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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22790428">Nothing Here But The Void And Relationship Problems</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jade444/pseuds/Worm_Boy_99'>Worm_Boy_99 (Jade444)</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Homestuck</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - College/University, Angst, Anxiety, Blood, Blood and Injury, Collegestuck, Depression, Fake Breakups, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Feelings Jams, Lying About Relationships, M/M, Mental Health Issues, Mild Stalkerish Vibes, Moderately Gay Happenings, No Homo, Protective Bro Mode, References to Suicide, Slow Burn, Stalker, Swordfights, unintentional violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-02-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-04-28 17:35:32</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>54,812</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22790428</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jade444/pseuds/Worm_Boy_99</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Karkat makes a very troublesome mistake one day, that tosses him into the rabbithole of crushes, fake dates, and drama.</p><p> </p><p>"Why did you dump cold soup on my sibling, your boyfriend?"<br/>"Anger issues?"</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Dave Strider/Karkat Vantas, DaveKat</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>83</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Why The Soup</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Tried typing a bit more than usual, ended up longer than expected. I'd really appreciate feedback in the comments as to how to make the next chapters better!</p><p>(Trust me, the next one is gonna get very interesting)</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Karkat’s heart rate picked up as he passed his ‘rival’ in the hallway. His hands shook whenever said ‘rival’ even looked at him for a millisecond. He didn’t know what form of anxiety could tie to a person he hardly even knew and hadn’t genuinely interacted with at all in his goddamn life. Yeah they took some courses together and yeah sometimes sitting nearby was a thing that happened inevitably.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>But what the fuck.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>And now he was coming to the stunning revelation that his ‘anxiety’ was not much more than a stupid crush. How could that even happen? He’d already established his general anxiety toward humans in general after he and his friends’ arrival to the dumb planet.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>It turns out while he contemplated on this, as he stood in the hallway, someone was sneaking up on him.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Hands met his shoulders and despite the gentleness or carefulness of the touch, Karkat was sent jumping away and elbowing whatever ‘attacker’ was there. The higher-pitched yelp that Karkat knew belonged to John Egbert met his ears. He didn’t have any remorse as his heart rate verged on just making him drop dead right then and there.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Jesus, dude, what the fuck?” Came the pained complaint. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Karkat turned his red-tinted gaze upon the human and snarled. “Don’t fucking sneak up on me.” He snapped, but more or less instantly relaxed at the half-hug of John putting his arm around his shoulder. <em> God I’m touch starved. </em>He thought, leaning closer to John in a totally platonic bro way. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>“I’m sorry Karkat.” John replied reluctantly and let him go. Karkat did NOT whine or anything of the sort, because he wasn’t more touch starved than anyone at all.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Why are you even talking to me?” Karkat asked bluntly, his eyes glazing over with his lack of hope. Sure John occasionally came over to talk, but Karkat didn’t understand why he would be doing it today.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>John took long enough to answer that Karkat rolled his eyes and just started walking down the hallway. He saw the sunlight streaming in through the way-too-large windows and squinted until he got to the shadier part of the hallway where there was a significant lack of windows. John practically skipped his way to block Karkat’s wayward stride of annoyance. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Okay, so you know how you basically assaulted my friend’s brother?” John started, to which Karkat rolled his eyes.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>That was definitely in his mind, yes. He could still remember it vividly. The exact time had been 2:47, they had been in the shitty cafeteria, and Dirk fucking Strider had somehow ended up with a muffin smushed in his face and a bowl of cold tomato soup covering his front. Karkat entirely denied doing that, though.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“I remember nothing of the fucking sort.” He started. John’s bright blue eyes immediately shot straight into his soul, however. It made his entire insides feel rotten and yucky. How did such a guy have this much control over him? “It wasn’t even hot soup, the cafeteria doesn’t even cook their shit anyways.” He finally cracked. He scowled at Egbert, who was just smiling.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“<em> Well </em>you managed to become the talk of their entire friend group for at least ten minutes.” </p>
<p> </p>
<p>“And I should give a shit, why?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Well seeing as no one has had the courage to even interact with Dirk before unprompted, they were pretty amazed.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Smug bastard deserved it.” Karkat rolled his eyes. Being taunted one too many times by generally anyone, and it happened to be Dirk Strider that got him to snap. </p>
<p>…</p>
<p>Okay maybe he hadn’t particularly done anything to taunt him, except for being the unlucky bastard that managed to get in the way when Karkat was on a rampage.</p>
<p>He blinked, breaking out of his reverie to look at John. The light of the hallway reflected off of his glasses, making Karkat squint to make out his expression fully. This led to them awkwardly staring at each other for a moment.</p>
<p>“Was that all you wanted to talk about?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“...yeah, pretty much.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Then entirely fuck off.” Karkat tugged on his sleeves anxiously. He felt his skin prickling and checked the clock on the wall nearby. It was 5 pm. Which meant he was going to go home, dissociate for a few hours, forget to eat, and then fall asleep. All part of the plan. It didn’t matter that that had been his life for the last few days, and that he hadn’t eaten and he was getting to the point that every scent made him feel sick to his stomach.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He watched John sigh and turn to walk down the hallway, and then headed the opposite direction himself. He noted people filing out of the building and to the separate building with their dorms, and he was looking forward to doing the same.</p>
<p>He jumped slightly when his phone rang, the buzzing sent shockwaves through him. He needed to stop being so jumpy. Oh, well shit. He apparently had a psych appointment today. Guess he forgot about that. His heart dropped in his chest as he redirected himself to his method of transportation. He spotted the Strider duo wandering toward their car, and John heading after them.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Another buzz from his phone, and he quickly checked it. No one he knew, but it was an unknown number, a text message.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>TT: Where are you going?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Karkat was perfectly ready to ignore it, but another message quickly came in.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>TT: Nice bike, btw.</p>
<p>CG: FUCK OFF. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>He didn’t know why he bothered responding. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>He approached his ‘bike’, which was in reality a motorcycle. It was sleek on the outside but he knew it wasn’t the best. Never would be. Well, at least it was safe. He grabbed his helmet and secured it on. Only to have his phone buzz away again. He ignored it, zipped up his jacket, and rode off.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>His psych appointment went without incident. His meds were prescribed again and he talked to his therapist and he actually managed to make it through this one without crying. Hooray. He lingered around his bike and sat on it, checking his messages. A few emails from his professors detailing assignments, etc. And several messages from the unknown number.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>TT: Dude tell me where you’re at. Are you at your dorm?</p>
<p>CG: WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU.</p>
<p>TT: Thought you’d recognize me by now. Also, I’m still gonna need you to pay me for the damages to my shirt.</p>
<p>CG: WHAT??????</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Karkat’s heart practically stopped right there in his chest. Oh god, was Strider trying to get revenge? Was he gonna have to worry about getting his ass kicked as soon as he got back? His pulse stuttered and his hands trembled. No no he couldn’t have a panic attack right the fuck outside of his therapist’s office. Another message pinged but he was too busy taking deep breaths and trying not to entirely lose his shit and spiral into the crashing waves of anxiety.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>If the coming panic was a beast clawing its way up his chest then his attempt at making it go away was like smacking at it with a newspaper.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>But luckily he managed to pass through it, and gasped for deeper breaths. Finally, he checked the next message.</p>
<p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
<p>TT: I’m not gonna do anything to you, I was joking about you paying for it.</p>
<p>TT: Well, you’re gonna pay for it, but only by doing a favor for me.</p>
<p>TT: That kind of sounded like I’m insinuating that you should suck my dick or something, and I promise that’s not what it’s going to culminate into.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Karkat drew in another shaky breath and gripped his phone tight enough for the frame to creak.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>TT: I get that you’re busy and all but this is pretty time sensitive.</p>
<p>TT: And by busy I mean you’re just staring at the text because you’re online.</p>
<p>TT: And I doubt you’re talking to anyone else.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He growled, kicking the stand of his bike. He didn’t have to respond to this insane motherfucker. Even if this guy was apparently creepily aware of exactly how he was reacting.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>CG: WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME</p>
<p>CG: AND WHY SHOULD I DO A FAVOR FOR SOMEONE WHO I CARE LESS ABOUT THAN THE MATTER THAT COMES FROM MY WASTE CHUTE</p>
<p>TT: Mmmmbecause you’re curious. And also I’m gonna wait outside your dorm for exactly ten more minutes and if you don’t get here I’ll be entirely gone when you do.</p>
<p>CG: I… I’LL THINK ABOUT IT.</p>
<p>TT: Don’t take too long.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Karkat huffed. This guy somehow knew exactly how to get under his skin and he couldn’t say that - now that he knew this guy wasn’t gonna fucking wreck his shit - he wasn’t into it. He couldn’t say that at all. So he put his helmet on again and had never ridden somewhere so fast before - while also going at a non-illegal pace. His head was spinning at the scent of food down the hall. Chicken-flavored ramen had never smelled so enticing before, and his entirely empty stomach definitely wouldn’t refuse any food he could get. But now he saw a figure standing in front of his dorm room’s door. He approached the Strider and stifled a hitch in his breath; it seemed the attractive gene ran in the family.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The only thing is that the compilation of feelings running through him- it was now infused with a strange heat rising through his chest to his face, as well as his heart pumping harder with each second.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“-so are you up for it?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Karkat hadn’t been listening, and now he was regretting everything.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“You heard absolutely none of that, did you?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“No, no I didn’t.” Karkat exhaled a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding. “I’m sorry.” </p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Are you… doing alright?” </p>
<p>He’d like to imagine that Dirk’s face had a bit of worry on it despite the fact he basically never shows emotion based on what he’d heard about the human.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Just, say it again. And try to make it fast.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Okay, okay. So I need you to do me a favor. My family thinks I have a date and they insisted on meeting said date and the <em> issue </em> is that I don’t actually have one.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“...So you’re saying you want me to be your stand-in date?” Karkat’s mind wasn’t processing as fast as he’d hoped. A date? Really, him, a date? Even a fake one. Why would he ever be chosen for something like this? A nod from Dirk confirmed whatever was the opposite of the doubt he had. “And why the fuck do you want me? The one who dumped cold soup on you.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Because anyone else I know would be too ingrained into my friend group that they wouldn’t buy it, or they’re female and everyone knows I’m fucking gay.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“I didn’t know that, and also I don’t care about that. Where are you even planning on going? There’s no fucking way I’m attending any shitty college party.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“No no no- we’re just going out to a restaurant.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“When?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Right now. Let’s go.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“WHAT?!” Karkat’s pulse nearly stopped right there. “I-I can’t do that, I have plans-” He tried lying, extremely unprepared. What? He was supposed to meet the Strider family in the next hour or two? He had to steady his breathing and lean against the wall. Well, at least the food sounds like it might be good. “I can’t even pay for this shit. I don’t have money.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Do you think I’d be so cruel? Of course I’ll pay for you.” Dirk set a hand on his shoulder and his head tilted slightly. Karkat sighed and gave him an uneasy expression.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“What extent am I going to have to go through for this? How convincing are we gonna have to be.” He wasn’t very keen on faking affection. Okay maybe he was. Maybe it made him an attention whore but by god was he going to go with it. Especially if it meant potentially being next to the two god-hot Striders for at the very least an hour.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“We can chat on the way there, let’s go!” Dirk was sounding impatient.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“H-Hold on, I need to get ready first.” Karkat pushed past him into his room and shut the door behind him. OK. He leaned back against the door, head in his hands. <em> How the fuck did I sign up for this? </em> Stress crashed over him in waves. The tide receded and then just came back in. He only took a minute to mentally prepare before he went to physically prepare. He knew whatever he wore, he’d look like shit, but he at least wanted to try. The visit to his closet was short. He knew exactly what he wanted to wear. A loose grey t-shirt, with his leather jacket over that. He had fallen into the habit of wearing the jacket anyways, because of the frequency he had to ride his bike. Also he liked pretending to be cool.</p>
<p>He added a pair of skintight jeans onto the list of things to wear, cuz they made it look like he had more ass than he actually had. The shirt managed to obscure most of his… issues, so he wouldn’t have to worry about that as long as he didn’t end up removing it.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The thought of why he may end up doing that had his face heating up and tingles running through him. <em> No, this is not an actual date. Shut down every feeling that this is going to be fun, because it’s not. </em>His thoughts whispered at the back of his mind, and his small rush of giddiness was crushed. Yeah, it was true though. He was essentially just being used as a lie.</p>
<p>That whole conversation had been a wild ride from start to finish, and now Karkat felt himself reeling in the midst of it. No matter, he had decided to go. He pulled on his entirely goth boots with way too many straps just to have a zipper that closed them up, and glanced around for anything else he might need.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>His keys, his phone… his meds. He grabbed the bottle that rattled as he did so, tucked it in his pocket, and then headed out. He essentially ran face first into Dirk's chest, and quickly backed up until his back hit the now-closed door. "Sorry!" His face immediately burned and he felt like he needed to apologize over and over again. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>"No problem, my guy." Dirk grabbed his hand and pulled him out to their apparent form of transportation. If Karkat knew anything about cars, he would probably be impressed.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>It looked like an old style of car, but the exterior and interior was sleek and clean. It didn't have the roundness to its edges that most newer cars had.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>As he got into the passenger seat, he noticed the dark leather - or faux leather - interior. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>The only thing that came to his mind was <em> how does he deal with this in the summer? </em> </p>
<p>Nonetheless, the door creaked and the car shifted lower as Dirk got in. The engine was rough and loud but not enough to be deafening or even prompt him to need to shout over the sound. </p>
<p>Not like he didn't already shout constantly, though. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>The car ride started smoothly, Karkat staring out the window at the passing scenery. He broke out of his thoughts when Dirk spoke, though.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>"Alright, so I wanna make sure I don't do anything you're uncomfortable with. I want it to be as convincing as possible, so where do you draw the line?" </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Karkat thought that over. He pictured any scenario in which Dirk decided on touching him and only one scenario came up that made him overly uncomfortable to think about.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>"As long as you don't grope me in the middle of the restaurant, I'm fine. But every kiss you decide is necessary, you're gonna owe me more food for. Make it another date." He regretted saying that last part. He hoped his embarrassment didn't show on his face. That probably overstepped at least one boundary if not many. He was surprised Dirk didn't pull over right then and there.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>"Aren't you like, interested in my brother? It doesn't bother you?" </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Karkat froze in his seat. Oh holy fuck? Just being outed right there and then, now. He sputtered for an answer but couldn't come up with a convincing lie. </p>
<p>"No!" He practically yelped in a higher pitch than he had intended. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>"No worries, man. I guess he's kinda attractive if you squint. Not as hot as I am, though." </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Karkat could sense a wink in there, and his clarification escaped his maw before he had a chance to swallow it back down, "No! You're both hot as hell! It surely fuckin runs in the family." </p>
<p>Aaaaaand he clamped a hand over his own mouth, his head making a low <em> thud </em> sound against the window. He couldn't have just said that, did he? Well if the shitshow hadn't ended yet, then it was surely over now. Time to prepare to be dumped on the side of the street. Definitely wasn't a new situation to have to deal with.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>To his surprise, Dirk only make a sound somewhere between a snicker and a huff. It could be, quite possibly, the only positive reaction a Strider could ever do. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>"I, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to say that…. I…. Hhh…" Karkat felt burning shame seeping through his bones like he was a lava sponge. He also was very unsuccessfully trying to merge with the car door. He debated opening it and just rolling on out to be inevitably run over. Almost as if Dirk read his mind, the car doors lock clicked down. Karkat wasn't even aware this car had electronic locks. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>"Dude, it's fine. Chill out. You're gonna take a lot more than that to piss off a Strider."</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Yeah, the chillest dudes in existence. They were kind of known by other college students for that. And also known because they're totally fucking hot, but that was beside the point. He chose not to speak up anymore, the scenery outside shifting minimally. It all blurred together and just looked like city to him.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Eventually they reached a place that was apparently a restaurant. Definitely not a place he'd heard of before, but it looked Italian. Kind of. He wasn't really knowledgeable on a lot of human foods. Whatever, before he knew it, they were heading in. The hostess said yes, Dirk's family was already here. Karkat assumed this meant they ate here often enough to recognize Dirk on the spot. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Karkat couldn't help but stick as close to Dirk as possible as they approached the table that seemed to be the loudest, laughter emanating from it and heard even before he could see all of them. It quieted down as he came into view. Three people he hardly knew were there, as well as John. He shot John a plea of understanding in the form of a quick expression. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>John, understandably, looked shocked. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>"<em> He's </em>your date?" </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Okay, John didn't catch onto the fact this was fake. That would probably work more in their favor. Karkat slid quietly into the circular booth, which had him sat next to John, and Dirk sat next to him as well. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Great. Trapped in the inner part. No easy form of escape. He repeatedly reminded himself this wasn't going to end badly. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Now he looked at the others, two girls who looked kind of familiar, and then there was Dave. He avoided looking at the latter, and focused on the girls. "Hi…"</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He could still feel John staring at him. If he looked he would probably see an expression of shock. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>He tried to ignore it.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Conversation had already sparked between them, a few sentences that Karkat only caught the tail end of.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>"-dating a troll?"</p>
<p> </p>
<p>"Hell yeah, dude."</p>
<p> </p>
<p>"That's so cool. I guess the family just likes trolls." Said the girl that looked older, she had a scarf and a white and pink shirt that had a cat icon on it. The girl next to her, dressed in more goth-style dress, rolled her purple eyes. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>"Yeah, yeah." </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Karkat stared at the purple-eyed human girl for a second, before he blurted out, "Aren't you dating Kanaya??" He regretting the words the second they were out of his mouth. "Sorry, I just, uh, recognized you, from a few pictures Kan sent me…" </p>
<p> </p>
<p>She blinked and nodded. "Why, yes I am. I'm Rose. You're friends with Kanaya?"</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Okay, conversation would be a little easier than he thought. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Yeah, we’re pretty close.” He would say that about a few of his other ‘friends’, but most of the ones he was ever ‘close’ to now just kind of wanted nothing to do with him. “One of my better friends, but we don’t talk a lot anymore.”</p>
<p>This was going good. He wasn’t getting interrogated too much yet.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“I see.” Rose was giving him a weird look. He shifted uncomfortably. Maybe this <em> wasn’t </em> going as well as he thought it was. Rose’s purple eyes bore into him like they were trying to pry into his soul to find his secrets. Like a purrbeast tearing into a tasty fish.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Or maybe just like someone who’s probably studying psychology looking at someone and trying to figure out what they’re thinking.</p>
<p>She looks like the kind of person to study that.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He fixed his gaze on the other female, all but entirely avoiding looking directly at Dave for any reason.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Oh, yeah, hi, I’m Roxy.” Pink-colored eyes met his red-tinted ones. Roxy smiled at him and looked at Dirk. “I can’t tell you how happy I am to see that you have a boyfriend now, Dirk. But I thought troll romance was all, uh, weird?” She looked back at Karkat again.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Karkat was verging on spacing out again. It probably didn’t help that he hadn’t taken his meds the last day or two, whoops. And it helped less that he was fucking starving. He could hardly register those sitting around him, and he propped his head up with his elbow on the table, palm cupping his chin. His free hand picked up the utensil bundle and worked free the fork, which he lightly pressed his finger to. The cold metal wasn’t very sharp, and he started pressing a little harder. His entire focus was just on the light pinch of pain that inflicted, until he was startled by an arm wrapping around his shoulders. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>He dropped the fork, gaze snapping over to Dirk and the menu he pushed in front of him. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Pick whatever you want, my treat.” </p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Oh, uh, okay.” Karkat blinked and looked at the menu. He flipped through the pages and eyed the pictures. The letters just kind of blended together into an amalgamation of weird shapes, and he sighed. He squinted and it made somewhat more sense, but then the noises of the restaurant started to filter into his focus. The clinking of glasses, the quiet but noticeable sounds of speech.</p>
<p>It felt absolutely impossible to try and make any sense of what it said. </p>
<p>“Uh, Str-” He paused, wincing. “Maybe you should order for me? I don’t really care what I get.” He looked into the reflective shades Dirk wore and saw himself. It was like he was staring into his own eyes, really. That unnerved him, but at least Dirk seemed to note his uneasy expression and nodded.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Yeah, sure.” Dirk replied, looking at his own menu. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Oh yeah, you’re probably not familiar with human foods, anyways.” Roxy’s assumption caught Karkat’s attention and he looked over at her, shrugging. It wasn’t true, he’d lived here long enough to know at least a little bit. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>He scoffed, leaning back against the stiff cushion behind him. “That’s racist. Or, like, xenophobic or whatever the fuck. Of course I know shit about human foods, I’ve only lived here for like, uh… two sweeps? Three?” He rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Roxy leaned forward as a counter, grinning at him. “Okay, then name three types of pasta.” </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Karkat had to think fast, and reached a hand forward to tap his claws on the table. “Spaghetti, fet-whatever-the-fuck, and that uh, the swirly kind.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Swirly kind?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“I don’t fucking know!”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>John interjected his opinion into the conversation, “There’s linguine, fetuccine, penne, lasagne, macaroni…”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“John, you are literally reading from a google search.” Dave finally decided to join the situation, looking up from his phone.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“And how do you know that? Oh wait, you looked it up too.” Rose shot at him.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Karkat went quiet and listened to the conversation with a look of amusement. He noted Dirk’s arm still around him, and remembered why he was even here. </p>
<p>He lowered his voice and leaned closer, “Anything I need to do?” He whispered, and Dirk shrugged. “Hm, hold on.” He beckoned him to lean closer with his finger.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Dirk leaned closer, and Karkat took the opportunity to give him a light peck on the cheek. A hand on his face lightly pushed him away, and he laughed.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Oh gross. PDA.” Rose said sarcastically, while Roxy and John both made disgusted noises.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Karkat half forced a laugh and returned to simply sitting normally. His leg crossed over the other. He saw Rose was clearly about to ask something, but was interrupted by the waiter approaching. One by one they gave their orders, and Karkat let them focus on that for a while. He had faith that Dirk would take care of his order, so he zoned out of the conversation. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Another couple he could pick up as the loudest and closest just had their food delivered. He could only really see a sliver of their table and their hands, but he spotted whatever food they had on their plate letting off a ton of steam. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>He picked up the scent of other people's food, though he tried not to focus on that. It would just send him into another wave of nausea and dizziness. Which he assumed would not be appropriate for a meeting like this. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>"Sooo…" that was Johns voice. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Dirk's hand moved from around his shoulders to simply clasp his hand. Karkat had the sneaking suspicion that Dirk was around as anxious as he was, so he gently squeezed the hand now wrapped around his own. Tucked this close to the other he could scent some cologne. He wasn't able to tell what the scent was, as it kind of mingled with the aroma of food surrounding them. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>The conversation picked up again and lulled and followed that cycle until the food arrived around fifteen minutes later. Karkat essentially had been zoned out the whole time and didn't realize he had basically been staring at a fixed point on the wall just past Dave. Shit. His face heated up and he immediately snapped his gaze to anything else. <em> Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. </em>Wow, that painting on the wall of a chef looked really neat. What a wonderful curly mustache the chef had. The chef was named Harlot now and he was Chef Harlot.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Chef Harlot wouldn't be caught staring. Chef Harlot wouldn't even have feelings toward anyone, because he's not a total dumbass that gets obsessed with people he doesn't even know that well. Chef Harlot is kind of more focused on his job right now, and isn't interested in relationships anyways. </p>
<p> </p>
<p><em> Jegus christ I'm a fucking mess. </em>He clenched his jaw tight. He clearly hadn't noticed he'd been asked a question until everyone seemed to be staring at him and he panicked for a moment. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>"S….orry, I was zoning out there. What did you ask?" Karkat slowly spoke. His free hand fidgeted and the hand still around Dirk's was kind of squeezing his tighter than intended. He quickly loosened his grip and muttered a quiet apology. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>"I asked what you're majoring in, what's your classes?" That was Rose talking. Great. Karkat liked Rose, they had a friend in common. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>"I'm focusing on computer science stuff, mostly coding shit." He replied, and that seemed to satisfy her. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Dave had mostly been quiet and on his phone the majority of the time, but now he set it down and slumped forward. "Coding? That's lame."</p>
<p> </p>
<p>"Well unfortunately not everyone can be coolkid McAviators." He snapped, then winced. That had come out more aggressive than he wanted. But he was gonna go down with that shit, no one dissed his shitty coding skills except Karkat fucking Vantas himself. "And what are you taking, Superiority Complex 101?"</p>
<p> </p>
<p>"Yeah, that class is right next to Anger Management Class, you should take it next year." Dave retorted. The fact that his expression didn't change but his tone still held a hint of smugness shot fury right into Karkat's chest. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>"Says the one who-" Karkat was cut off by a hand clamping over his mouth. He shot a murderous glare at the owner, which was John. After a tiny bite of the hand, John yelped and pulled his hand away. "Fuck off, Egbert, unless you wanna lose an arm."</p>
<p> </p>
<p>During the whole argument, he neglected to notice at least Roxy was fighting a laugh and Rose was suddenly very interested in a text message she was getting. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Karkat sighed and looked at Dirk, who looked back. Or at least he assumed he was looking back. "Dirk, your brother is an asshole." </p>
<p>If he was gonna have to deal with being pissed off, he might as well use it to enhance their false relationship dynamic. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>"Yeah, I'm afraid he's always like that."</p>
<p> </p>
<p>"It fucking runs in the family, too." </p>
<p> </p>
<p>"You're so adorable when you're mad." That comment made Karkat actually 100 percent embarrassed. He was entirely certain his face was lit up like a fucking Christmas tree. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>"I am NOT adorable in any way, shape, or form. I, I'm hot as actual fuck." </p>
<p> </p>
<p>"That is true. I can't disagree."</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Oh, shit, well that backfired. Karkat was floundering and reaching for words. Luckily the others were dispersed into their own conversations. John climbed over Dave's lap to sit next to Roxy. Putting Dave right next to him. Just fucking great. At least Dave was sitting as far as possible away. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Karkat glanced at Dave out of the corner of his eye. All he could spot was his knee, but his imagination wandered a little higher. He couldn't easily daydream in the middle of a fake date, so he looked down at the table instead. He listened to the conversation. How would this end up going, he wondered? Hopefully it turned out better than he would think it would go. It was strange to see Roxy and Rose, mostly because he didn’t recognize them from campus. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>He decided to bring that up.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Um, Roxy, yeah? I don’t really recognize you, or Rose all that much.” Karkat brought up. Maybe they went to a different campus, or maybe they weren’t going to college at all? This question could backfire on him in many ways, but he went with it anyways. Roxy was visibly surprised at the question, and looked at him. Oops, looks like he broke up her conversation. “Uh, sorry.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“No problem. I’m taking a gap year. Gonna start college next year.” Roxy replied, then gestured to Rose. “She goes, but keeps her head down.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>That made sense.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“So how are you guys related?” He glanced over at Dave then looked back at her.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Oh, we’re cousins. Feels like these two are my brothers, though.” Roxy nodded at Dave and Dirk. “The family’s kind of complicated.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“I bet.” </p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Don’t you have any siblings, Karkat?” </p>
<p> </p>
<p>The question dunked him straight into a bucket of ice water. Fuck. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Not really, I mean I have a few friends but they’re kind of… ehh.” He shifted uncomfortably, tucking his hands between his thighs. When had even been the last time he talked to one of them willingly? A month ago? The last time any of them contacted him was Eridan, who of course was just trying to bootycall him a week ago.</p>
<p>“I don’t like talking to them.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“I see.” </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Rose was practically lasering a hole into his brain as he tactfully avoided eye contact.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>It was a relief once the food finally arrived, and Karkat eyed the plate set in front of him with what no doubt was the expression one would see on a starving animal. The description wasn’t too far off, at least. No one else had started eating yet, though. So he waited patiently until Dirk was the first one to start eating. Everyone followed suit, except for Karkat. He lifted his fork again and poked at the noodles that looked like they were a shitty mock of a bow or butterfly. Around him the conversation picked up again, but he could tell they were watching him poke around his food.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Finally he couldn’t wait anymore and just shoved a bite of food into his mouth. It was probably just him being super hungry that made this shit taste like the best fucking thing he’d ever had. Before he knew it, he was halfway through inhaling his food and Dirk was lightly smacking him on the back as he half-choked on a piece of pasta.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Damn, Vantas. Save the choking for the after-date.” That sounded suspiciously like Dave, but Karkat was too busy dragging in deep breaths while his eyes watered. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Once he caught his breath he glared at Dave. “You’re a hoe.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Thank you for using the most mild insult I have ever been called.” </p>
<p> </p>
<p>He opened his mouth to retort, but suddenly a hand was pressed over his mouth again. This time it was Dirk. Karkat didn’t notice that he’d tensed up until he was forced to relax by a hand massaging his shoulder.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Good boy.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Karkat shot a glare at Dirk after those words but when his face was released, he calmed down. Damn. Dirk was good at this, even as someone who had basically no relationship status with the small alien gremlin man. He wasn’t even a moirail for anyone or even a matesprit, assumedly. Usually Karkat would just get smacked if he did shit like this.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Which is why Karkat proceeded to turn in his seat and hug his fake boyfriend. He felt an awkward hand petting his head and held the embrace for less than three seconds before returning to his original position and acting like nothing had happened.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>A chasm of awkward silence opened up across the table as everyone ate their food. The quiet clinking and scraping of utensils on plates was all that filled the air aside from the noises of the restaurant elsewhere filtering into their booth. Karkat waited a minute before going back to eating. He found that he couldn’t eat very much, only able to get about three fourths of his pasta down before he couldn’t physically handle eating any more.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He was happy the whole outing seemed to have gone peacefully so far. He tuned into their conversation a little bit. It seemed to fluctuate from a conversation about oranges with faces and casual talk about what they got up to earlier today and oh did you see whats her face? Oh yeah she’s like totally unhinged now.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He was calmly grabbing Dirk’s glass of soda to sip from when he found himself spoken to.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“So… Any specific reason as to why you spilled soup on Dirk the other day? Argument, maybe?” God damn it Rose was in sleuthing mode, Karkat could tell.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He picked at his food with his fork, shrugging. Avoiding eye contact. "I got pissed and he happened to be in viable soup distance." </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Dave leaned forward and rested his elbows on the table.</p>
<p>"And how come I haven't heard of this relationship before?" His voice took on a menacing tone that sent the wrong kind of shivers down Karkat's spine. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>"Cuz we were testing the waters for a while. Didn't want to announce it to the world, yet." Dirk copied Dave's position with arms crossed on the table. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>"Yeah. Didn't want any weird rumors spreading." Karkat added. He was trying to be helpful, but he was a little out of his depth. Up until now he’d been mostly able to ignore Dave’s presence, but the fact he was being somewhat threatening meant that now Karkat was constantly aware of where the human was at next to him. Even when he couldn’t see him, even if he wasn’t physically touching him, he could <em> feel </em>it.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“I get that.” Dave replied reluctantly. “Well, it’s neat to meet you, Vantas.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“It was a pain to meet you, but thanks.” He responded grumpily, then after he received a flick on his ear from Dirk, he added to that, “I suppose you were relatively entertaining to talk to, if not infuriating.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Well you can continue to be infuriated if you wanna spend the night with us.” Rose decided to add to their conversation. Maybe she hoped to diffuse the potential tension.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“What.” </p>
<p> </p>
<p>“You heard me. I think we’d all like to get to know you better. That is, if you want to.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Karkat didn’t really believe what he was hearing. He had to take a moment to debate. It would probably be super awkward. He’d never had any opportunity to go to anyone else’s house - at least no one that he wasn’t extremely close to at the time - so he was made a little anxious at the thought. After all, he hardly knew any of these people. That did bring up the issue for if he refused, though… would it mess up the whole fake boyfriend idea if he refused? Would a human in a relationship take up this opportunity? He had no damn idea how human relations were supposed to work. Not one romcom had prepared him for this.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Then came the personal issue. What else did he have to do other than go home and end up sleeping all through the next day? Nothing, that’s what. If anything the idea of being alone again kind of scared him.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>At last he decided on impulse. “Sure.” He had a feeling that he might regret his decision later, but he couldn’t really muster up the courage to say no, either. Going home alone would just be horrible.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Great!” Roxy cheered. Everyone at the table seemed to agree with her excitement. Well, Rose and John at least. He couldn’t really tell with Dirk or Dave, both of their expressions stoic and calm.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“I might have to have Dirk take me to get some stuff from my place, though?” Karkat sent a glance at Dirk, who shrugged.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“We could stop there real quick. We do have some stuff at home you could borrow, though.” Dirk replied. “If you need to borrow clothes, I think Dave and I might have a few that would fit you.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>At the image that sparked into Karkat’s head, he was certain his face was getting a bit red.</p>
<p>“Yeah, that could work too. I-I guess, whatever you’d prefer to do.” He managed to choke out. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>The waiter came around to give them their to go containers and they were getting ready to leave. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>"Hey guys, we'll meet you out there." Dirk announced after getting out some money to put toward the bill. "I need to talk to Karkat."</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Being called on a first name basis was slightly unnerving. Every moment Karkat was reminded that he hardly knew these people. How did he even get into this situation? Why would Dirk choose him out of everyone else that could possibly be better for this role? None of it really added up in his thick-ass thinkpan. He got up and followed Dirk out. Once outside, the breezy air felt like a slap to the face and made him realize how warm it had felt indoors. The shiver that ran through him was small but it made him annoyed. The cold is gross.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“So that went well.” Dirk said as they walked together to the car.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“And now I’m going to your <em> house </em> for a <em> sleepover </em> like some sort of teenage highschooler trope.” </p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Don’t be like that, Vantas. It’s totally normal for boyfriends to spend the night at their partners house. Especially when there’s probably gonna be quite a bit of fun shit.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Karkat rolled his eyes at the first part, then his expression turned confused. “Should I be concerned about what you might mean about ‘fun shit’?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“No, no… okay, maybe. It’s nothing super fucked up, mostly just alcohol and board games.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“...Board games? How is that supposed to be fun?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Because we put fun spins on it. Anyways, what did you think of my family?” Dirk asked.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Karkat sighed and shrugged. He honestly didn’t know what to think. They seemed like a good family from the outside. He knew more about both Dave and Dirk than he ever thought he would, now, as well.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“I dunno. Don’t have enough of an understanding of them yet. Other than your brother. He’s an asshole. And John’s tolerable.” </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Dirk didn’t respond for a stretch of time, it seemed like he was kind of just staring at Karkat for a moment. “Mhm.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“What do you mean ‘mhm’?” </p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Just…. I don’t know.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Dirk what is going through your slimy little thinkpan?” Karkat growled lowly and loosely grabbed the human’s arm. “If you don’t tell me I will bite you.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Kinky, but I’m not into that. And it’s nothing.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He was very close to reaching up to flick Dirk’s face, but he heard the others approaching.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“So we’ll drive back to your place, pick up whatever you need, and then meet you there. It’s on the way.” Dirk was saying as he spotted them.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Karkat felt his heart tighten a bit as he was once again faced with more people. He put his hands in his pockets to stop them from fidgeting. He nodded absentmindedly at Dirk’s plan, glancing over the gathered people. Now that he thought about it, they definitely did appear outwardly related. One would only be able to notice it if they were looking for the details, though.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He found his gaze lingering on Dave, who appeared to at least have his face turned to him. </p>
<p>“I’m tagging along with you two.” Dave said out of nowhere, then proceeded to circle to the far back door and get into the backseat.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Karkat shot a somewhat panicked glance at Dirk, who simply shrugged.</p>
<p>His pulse practically skipped several beats. This wasn’t really part of any plan.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Then again, they didn’t have much of a plan in the first place.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He nervously got in the front seat and waited for Dirk to take the driver's seat. He debated trying to get them to drop him off so he could take his time, but then realized he had no idea where they lived. He'd give anything to be able to ride his bike instead of being in this car with two entirely hot boys that he was trying not to focus on because if he did he would be getting hot under the collar- and he didn't imagine that any of them would want to deal with a strangely aroused troll in the wrong kind of situation. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>He looked out the window. While they had been in the restaurant, the sun had begun to set. The change in time brought a pretty pinkish orange tint to the sky that calmed him. As they pulled out of the parking lot and started driving down the road he saw Roxy, John, and Rose lingering in the lot to talk. No doubt discussing the scandal of their sibling/friend dating a troll. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>As if the concept couldn't be worse enough, he was apparently dating a tiny twink with tons of mental problems. Couldn't get worse than that. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>After a minute he noticed the steady silence that fell over the three of them. No one said a single word. While the Striders may be fine with that, it just made Karkat more nervous. What could Dave possibly think of him? He hadn't made a particularly great first impression. Now he just had to hope he wasn't going to get killed in his sleep by the protective brother of his fake boyfriend.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>And it was all the more likely since he would probably be sleeping only some rooms away. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>"So Vantas." That was Dave talking, oh shit. Karkat still didn't know how they even knew his name. Well… Dirk had probably seen it on his door marker or something. "Opinions on Obama?"</p>
<p> </p>
<p>What? The actual fuck? Well he supposed that at least the question wasn't an interrogation, even though every word from him felt like one.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>"How the fuck should I know anything about Obama?" </p>
<p>He looked to Dirk for help, but he just seemed focused on driving, not saying a word.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>"Cuz he's like the coolest president."</p>
<p> </p>
<p>"Well I'm sorry; human American presidents don't really matter to me."</p>
<p> </p>
<p>"Dirk I think you've gotta break up with him."</p>
<p> </p>
<p>His gaze turned to Dirk again, who just sighed.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>"Yeah I just might."</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Karkat wasn't sure if that was supposed to sound like a joke or not. </p>
<p>"Ex-<em> cuse </em> me?!"</p>
<p> </p>
<p>"You are excused." Dave replied.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>"FUCK YOU." </p>
<p> </p>
<p>"Cheating on me already, Vantas?" That was Dirk, who eyed him out of the corner of his vision. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>"You know what, fuck you too." Karkat slid lower in his seat, crossing his arms and pouting. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>"How about you don't do that while the rest of us are around." Dave responded. Karkat didn't bother to look at him, he could already hear the smug expression.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>"Yeah, you'd probably like to watch, huh?" It was a very weird accusation in hindsight, but he was getting legitimately kind of pissed off. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>"Nah, we could make it a threesome."</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Karkat felt like his heart completely fucking stopped, and he felt a wave of warmth washing over him. He was entirely sure his face was turning red. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>"Okay, maybe this conversation has gone a little too far." Dirk interjected. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>"Hmph. So I guess it's my turn to ask questions. Dave, do <em> you </em> have a boyfriend or girlfriend?" He took his opportunity. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>He looked in the rearview mirror, and saw Dave visibly go through a mental struggle. It was amusing to watch. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>"First of all, I'm not gay, so… yeah, no boyfriend. Ever."</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Well Karkat guessed he walked right into that soul-crushing trap. He felt his hope get ran over, where the driver decided to follow it up by backing over it one last time to make sure it was dead. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>"And no, no girlfriend." Dave added. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>"You sound pretty defensive about not being the human gay, Strider."</p>
<p> </p>
<p>"And you sound like you're an alien from a shitty sci-fi movie with the way you're talking."</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Karkat must have struck quite the nerve, there. He felt like going off but decided against it. He stared out the window and noticed they were almost to the campus. By now the sun had already set, the only light bathing the street was sourced from the streetlamps that seemed to be placed at exact intervals. As soon as they pulled into the closest available parking spot, he was out the car and rushing for his room. Soon after he had started his small trek, he had Dirk next to him. The human was particularly taller than Karkat, which usually wouldn’t bother him. But the fact of the matter was that Karkat felt like he had to walk even faster just so Dirk wouldn’t have to struggle to keep a shorter pace, and by the time they were to the entrance doors to the building he was feeling exhausted already.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The hallway wasn’t entirely quiet, but the low murmur of the people in their rooms with their doors partially open was very soft and hushed. He approached his own door as he also slowed his pace. With his keys in hand he fumbled to unlock the door. As soon as it was open he had hands on his back speeding him inside.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Quick. Hurry.” Dirk said shortly, hands in his pockets. He lingered near the door, likely debating whether it would be fine to touch things or not.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Well, it wasn’t. Karkat grabbed a bag that was essentially a messenger bag, and shoved the essentials in there. Some extra boxers, pants, shower stuff. Everything he would absolutely need.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“You know we have shit at home that you can use, right?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He turned to look at Dirk with an exasperated expression. “Yeah, but it feels weird to use strangers’ stuff.” He responded, then double checked that he had everything. Phone charger, check. Phone, check. Everything else he could think of at the moment, check. “Okayokayokay.” He let out a long outward breath. “Let’s go. Wait. Can I follow you on my bike?” He asked, wanting to have his own mode of transportation in case someone was unable to drive him back.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“I guess? If you want to.” Dirk shrugged. “How did you even afford that thing, dude? Your ‘cycle is like, top of the line shit.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“As soon as I got my government fund I decided to buy myself a bike and ride off as far as I could from where I lived.” Karkat replied, making sure he had his keys. “The whole college thing was an afterthought, so I didn’t really spare any for that.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“I see.” Dirk sounded thoughtful.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“I’ll have to take you on a ride sometime, Strider.” </p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Oh really?” Dirk raised a brow, and Karkat realized that sounded dirty.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Not like that you insufferable prick.” He growled and crossed to the door, pushing past Dirk. “Let’s go.” He held out his hand to grab Dirk’s wrist and dragged him down the hallway.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Once they were back in the parking lot, Karkat made a beeline for his bike and grabbed his helmet.He sent a glance toward the car where Dirk got in and watched Dave move to the front seat. As soon as he was situated and the car started out of the lot, he began to follow.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>As he tagged behind the car, driving into the night, he felt some inner sense of peace. He always did enjoy riding around, especially at night. Night is when everything’s spooky, but there’s even more. Aside from the spooks, there’s not much light or even sound there to cause any stress. He could just feel the wind whipping his clothes and watch the lights pass and fill him with a serene sense of happiness.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>It turns out they lived about twenty minutes away from the campus area. The Striders’ car pulled into the driveway and Karkat stuck to the street. He parked and watched Dave and Dirk get out. Dirk waved him over, but Karkat dismissively waved back as he took off his helmet. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>“I’ll meet you inside!” He raised his voice a little even though they weren’t too far away. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>He watched Dirk nod and head inside.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Karkat looked over the house. It wasn’t shabby or small by any means, but fit neatly between the houses on either side. He looked at the garage, the door closed. They had two cars in the driveway already, which was already a surprise.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He took a moment to reflect on how the hell he had actually gotten into this situation. He thought about Dave, who he hardly knew other than a general attraction. He kind of hoped to get to know him, even if he did currently have a bit of an appearance to keep up. He could only predict how this was gonna go, and how long it would go on for. He knew deep down this would end up in some dramatic shitshow. He wondered what his therapist would say about this. Probably would tell him to fess up immediately.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He eyed the front door.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Yeah, no. He wasn’t gonna do that. He still owed Dirk.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Leaning back on his bike seat, he sighed. </p>
<p>Okay, time to go in. He promised himself to at least put on a bit of a friendly attitude. Might as well get them to like him and have fun for a while before they figure out his little lie. Or rather, his huge lie.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Finally he swung his leg over his bike and headed inside.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He didn’t really expect that he was prepared for what he’d deal with next.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Cliche Slumber Party, Anxiety Abound!</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Karkat finds himself signed up for a party in a house full of strangers, and wonders how the hell he managed to get in the situation. </p><p> </p><p>AKA Karkat gets anxiety and thinks pop rocks are drugs</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>The following events were ordinary at best. He walked into the front door, only to be greeted by what appeared to be an empty entry hall. The stairs to the upper floor were in front of him, and to his left he saw the wide doorway leading into what looked like a living room. To the other side there was a set of double doors that was closed, and the glass window warped everything behind it into blurred shapes. He shuddered despite the warm welcoming feeling the place gave him. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The windows next to the front door let light stream in, but there was so little of that that the hall was very dark and put a chill into his chest. He stepped into the living room, where there was Roxy and John sitting on the couch and floor, respectively. It appeared that they were about to play a game on the TV, but Roxy noticed his shadow and turned to grin at him. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hey! Dirk’s in the kitchen talkin’ to Dave. They’re having bro talk right now, once they’re done we’re gonna make some drinks.” She explained, then patted the spot next to her on the couch.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Relieved to actually have an idea of what to do next other than standing there awkwardly, Karkat quickly crossed over to sit on the opposite side of the couch.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What about drinks?” Karkat asked in a tentative tone. He wasn’t sure what she had meant, and he didn’t want to assume alcohol was implied even though Dirk had mentioned it earlier.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh, we’ve got like a ton of shit packed away somewhere in the house, so we like to crack open a few things every so often.” Roxy explained, starting what appeared to be a game of Mario Kart with John, who was entirely quiet this whole conversation. It was a bit uncomfortable having a silent listener, but he tried to pay no mind.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He nodded absentmindedly and watched the two race. “Well it should be fun to see how Dirk is drunk.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You’re not gonna have any?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Probably not? I haven’t really drank much before.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Duuude! That means you gotta take your chance now.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Karkat watched as she took her eyes off the game to give him an excited look. This of course turned out unfortunately for her, because her driver went rocketing off of the edge of a cliff. He gave a small snicker and a hint of a pointy-toothed grin. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Wow, good job. And I don’t think I should.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Bro, I wanna be bestowed the honor of one of the first people to see you drunk.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Am I already on bro levels now?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hell yeah, bro.” That sounded distinctly like not-Roxy. And it was also directly behind him, so he just about had a heart attack right there. In fact, he definitely ended up being on the floor after that. Pain shot up through his head and ass, and he groaned.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“God, fuck you.” He hissed, putting a hand on the couch to pull himself into a sitting position, putting a dramatic feel to the movement so it looked like an extreme effort. “You’re lucky I didn’t just bash your brains in.” He glared into those dumbass aviators only to see his own reflection. Wow, he looked extremely dumb as he was sitting on the floor.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Spoken like someone who would have anything to use against me physically.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Roxy, he’s bullying me.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Roxy lightly batted a hand in Dave’s general direction while keeping her other hand on the controller. She was focused back on the game. “Stop bullying him you ass.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Roxy is now my new best friend, thank you Roxy.” Karkat grinned and climbed back onto the couch. Dave was leaning forward against the back of it, so Karkat had no real choice other than to sit closer to him than he really wanted to.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Hell yeah I am. BOOM, FUCK YOU." Roxy must have won, and leaned forward to shake John's shoulder. "Even with that little hiccup, I still won!" She cheered victoriously, then climbed over the back of the couch to head into the front hall. Karkat assumed she was going to the kitchen, so he made to follow her. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Only, his wrist was snatched. His heart took a pitfall and he looked back to see Dave holding him back. "I need to talk to you." </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Oh, wow, he could feel his heart entirely stop. He just wished it wasn't in a 'oh damn, drag me into a closet and fuck me' kind of way. He was particularly shocked about the being dragged into a different room part, but it didn't seem to be a closet. It was the hallway, just outside of the room Dirk and Roxy were talking in. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Wow, thanks for escorting me to the kitchen. Nice talk. I'm gonna go now." </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He tried to step into the kitchen, but a hand pressed against his chest and pushed him back. He looked into those dumb aviators and growled. "The fuck you want?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"I want you to promise that you're not gonna hurt my brother by the end of all this." Dave's voice was scary low, and Karkat didn't think he'd ever felt more threatened in his life. Or more aroused. It was like Dave's voice went in his ears and straight down to his pelvis. He took a moment to simply stare at Dave, keeping up his usual glare.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Though it might seem like it, I'm not some kind of jackass. And bold of you to assume it's going to end. I'm in for the long run, bitch." </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He had absolutely no idea where he pulled that from. His ass, apparently. Despite being unable to see Dave's eyes, he could tell they were both having the most intense eye contact anyone in history could have made. It was like a staring contest, one that made his pulse skip and stutter and his face burn. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Finally Dave was the first one to turn his gaze elsewhere. Karkat would count that as a point for Vantas. Of course he'd be the first one to start racking up the points. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He caught onto what Dave was distracted by, a giggling from inside the kitchen. Both of them walked into the meal block to investigate. It turns out Roxy was giggling at something in Dirk's hand. Roxy spotted Dave and her grin grew wider. She snatched the item from Dirk: it was one of those shitty red solo cups you only see in movies, and it had Dave's name on it. Under the name there was a crude drawing of a human phallus. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Oh Christ, bro. Again?" Dave huffed and snatched it from her.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Again? Karkat got the strange feeling this happened often, if not just one time before. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"You know it dude. I gotta make sure they don't confuse you with another Dave." Dirk replied, a bit of a smile tugging at his mouth. Karkat couldn't help but smile as a reaction to that. Even a hint of that on this guys face felt like a blessing in itself. Luckily he wasn’t noticed enough to be teased for it, and he quickly erased it anyways.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He noticed one particular person missing.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Where’s Rose?” The sudden question caught everyone by surprise, as evident in the sudden quiet.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“In her room talking to Kanaya.” It was Roxy that answered.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Karkat actually felt a bit of a pang in his chest. He hadn’t talked to many of his friends in quite a while, mostly because the majority of them didn’t really like him anymore. So he had also stopped talking to the others for fear of bothering them. Even then, it still kind of hurt that none of them were actually making any effort to communicate with him. He must not have been that important to them after all.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Do you think I-” he started, but shook his head. “Nevermind, I already know the answer. What’s on the menu?” He gestured toward the cups.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Legs?" That was John's voice. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"What?" Karkat just sounded absolutely confused at that. And he was. It was probably some obscure joke or reference he didn't know about. He turned to see John in the hallway, and grinned. "Oh, you're on the menu. Sorry, but Dirk's the snack in this bunch."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"You bet your ass I am."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He tensed slightly as he felt an arm rest on his shoulder after saying that. He didn't have to look to know it was Dirk. The pointy-shaded human was the only guy in this room that would willingly touch him. Which there was no complaint about, Karkat was adoring all the affection even though it didn't really mean anything. He would have to ask Dirk how long this was supposed to go for. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"We've got wine, beer, vodka…" Roxy started saying, holding two bottles. "I think you might wanna start with wine, Vantas." She said, pouring some into a cup she labeled 'Karkat'. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"You're so lucky I haven't taken my meds recently." It slipped out of his mouth, but he said it so casually that he thought it softened the information bullet's impact. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"You take meds?" John was questioning. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Uh, yeah."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>John clearly felt too awkward to ask further, and that fueled Roxy to change the subject. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Take yer damn cup."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Karkat nodded and took the cup. It was about half full. He sniffed at it, and it didn't smell too bad considering he'd kind of expected it to smell absolutely terrible. He could feel Roxy's eyes on him and he felt a pit of anxiety opening up in his stomach. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Jeez, are you trying to burn a hole through me? I know it's supposed to be super special but gog that's annoying."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Sorry, man." Roxy shrugged. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Wait, is it your first time drinking?" Dirk asked, and Karkat looked up at him. He was starting to get used to staring at his own reflection. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He nodded. "Yeah? Well, other than a tiny bit here and there." He chose not to mention that the only time he had access to alcohol was when Eridan was trying to convince him to do shit with him. "Its not that big of deal."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Well Karkat, of all the groups of people to do this around, I think you're in the safest place possible." Rose appeared in the doorway, and pushed past everyone to get her own cup. "Kanaya says hi, by the way."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>That felt like an arrow through the chest. No, that was just common courtesy. Oh yeah, this person said hi, but they definitely don't give a shit right now. Or ever, for that matter. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Karkat sipped at the contents of the cup and wrinkled his nose. That was definitely bitter and sour, an overwhelming combination he didn't enjoy at all. Nonetheless, he took a full on drink after getting used to the flavor. His effort was met with a light cheer mostly from Roxy, Rose, and John. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Chug it." Roxy said. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Karkat glanced around. Dave was at the counter, mixing some drinks together in what was probably going to be a vile concoction. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>After Roxy's dare, all eyes seemed to be on him. So not wanting to have so much pressure in the attention, he started trying to do so. He choked and put the cup on the counter after a few solid gulps, coughing loudly. The bitterness didn't help it feel any better. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Okay okay you did your best." Dirk patted him on the back. Karkat growled, feeling a burning in his chest that wasn't entirely from the fact his lungs felt like shit now. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It felt like a challenge to finish the drink off, but he knew it was a bad idea. "No, fuck you." He didn't care if it was a bad idea, and grabbed the cup again. He finished off the rest of it and afterward gave Dirk a huge grin.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"I'm pretty sure that request can be arranged." </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He wasn't prepared for flirting, fake or not. His face was heating up and he lightly punched Dirk on the arm. "I'm gonna consume you." That was a really weird threat even by his own standards, but he was already pretty into a weird mood and didn't have much other excuse. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Mhm. I bet you will." </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"You want another drink? A shot, maybe?" Roxy asked. Karkat eyed her with a confused look, feeling Dirk's arm loop around his shoulders. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Uh, sure." </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He watched as she poured some vile liquid into a shot glass and handed it over. Without hesitation he downed it. He felt the liquid burn down his throat and he sputtered, coughing again. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"That's fucking disgusting."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"I don't think it's supposed to be tasty." Rose commented. "Unless your favorite flavor is bitter and gross."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Yeah well bluh." He winced after a moment. He had to stop using words like that. It would probably summon Vriska. He watched everyone else get their drinks. They didn't seem to have any issue choking down the disgusting liquid. He was almost jealous. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Almost. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He zoned out a little as they did so, not having much to focus on. His thoughts settled on the house itself. These guys apparently all lived together, which seemed only a little bit weird. He had only lived with a few of his friends before, and that was insufferable as it was. He wondered how they could stand it. He wondered if the uncomfortable warmth spreading through his veins was the alcohol or anxiety. How was he supposed to spend the night here if he could hardly even stand being in a new place without having to stay there?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It was surely unfortunate, the situation. He blinked and looked at Dirk, kind of wanting to tap out for a bit. Unfortunately Dirk wasn't paying attention to him, instead on getting a drink.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Karkat wanted to try and get his attention, but wasn't sure how. He could swoop in for a hug or touch his arm and enforce the charade, but he felt super awkward about doing that. Even if everyone else knew they were fake dating, and even if he was so horny for the soft gentle affection, he couldn't bring himself to do it. He'd just met the guy after all.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>That thought brought his mind train crashing down off the rails that were somehow suspended fifty thousand feet above sea level. He was in a house, full of a bunch of people he hardly knew, in an unfamiliar place. Up until this point the whole wall he put around his anxiety had held up strong, but the dam was breaking. He wasn't sure why it was rearing its ugly head now.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Hey, uh, where's the bathroom?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He asked, looking at the group that was now gathered at the counter. Luckily a familiar face, John, was his rescuer. He grabbed onto John's hand like a lifeline as he was slowly led down the hall and showed the bathroom door. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Thanks." He said quietly, prying his hand away from John's. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"No problem, man!" John gave his signature goofy smile, and Karkat found himself at least partially returning it. He made sure not to show off too many sharp teeth. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>John turned to leave, and Karkat locked himself in the bathroom. The light wasn't the greatest; he found another light switch next to the mirror, and flicked it. Vanity lights blinked on and provided much more illumination of the room. Even in here he felt his chest being squeezed, the anxiety rising to the surface. He had to hope no one came to bother him when they wanted to use the bathroom, because he was skating around a crisis. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He tried to focus on anything else. He had been holding Johns hand a moment ago, and marvelled at the fact human skin was so soft. Maybe it wasn't even a species difference, it was probably a lifestyle difference. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>What kind of lifestyle would give someone such delicate goddamn hands?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>… he needed to stop thinking about hands, fuck. The world was gently swaying and he grabbed onto the counter, staring into the mirror. He must be feeling the alcohol by now. Maybe that was the thing amplifying his stress. It kinda made sense. All he knew anyhow was he wanted to find the nearest safe person and latch onto them. But he couldn't even do that. John was the one he knew the best, but if he randomly started clinging to that guy then everyone would think that was off. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He turned around and sat down. As he leaned back against the counter thing he felt the handles of the cabinet doors dig into his back. It helped ground him a little, the pain. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>His arms crossed over his knees that were loosely in front of his chest, lightly pressing his claws against the skin of the other arm. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>His mind felt chaotic and he could hardly focus on anything. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Karkat sighed and took deep breaths, trying to calm himself. After getting to know these people better it would be fine. They already seemed pretty chill anyways. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Eventually there came a small knock at the door. After a lack of response, a head poked through. His gaze was met by slicked back white-blonde hair and aviator shades. Oh, god, this guy. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Oh. Hey. You've been in here a while." </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Oh, shit. It felt like only a few minutes, but he guessed it was actually a little longer. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Yeah no shit." Karkat muttered, rolling his eyes and looking down at the tile floor. The chill of the hard floor was seeping into him slowly, but he didn't really care. It helped him, even. "What do you want?" </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Well I wanted to use the bathroom. But you seem like a more pressing matter." Dave stepped fully into the bathroom, the door creaking quietly. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Karkat heard the door closed behind him and the footsteps signalled that the human was coming closer, eventually sitting next to him. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"You doin' alright?" The southern accent in his voice was very faint but likely more enhanced by the alcohol swarming through both of their systems.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He had no damn idea why Dave was getting concerned with his business, and it made him suspicious. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Why, pray tell, do you want to know?" </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Cuz you're hiding in the bathroom, and everyone else seems pretty worried too." </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Too? Which implied Dave was worrying about him along with the others. It was so strange, Karkat never knew anyone even mildly attractive would have distinct emotions toward him that he felt his heart soar at the implication that statement held. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Then again, he didn't know why that got him so excited. He's not supposed to have a crush on someone he doesn't know anything about, dammit! It's weird and creepy… and Dave's arm was close enough to his own that he could feel the heat coming off his skin. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Suddenly the floor felt very cold, and that paired with the almost-touching was sending goosebumps forming on his skin. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He had been in silent thought for a while, and Dave took this as a sign to talk a little more. His voice with the ever so slight accent was kind of soothing. Not a deep voice yet not so high pitched as to be grating on the ears. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"I guess I feel ya, man." Dave sighed and his face was turned to Karkat, who could feel the stare. It was awkward and he didn't meet it, too anxious to do so.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>A rustle of movement and a slight accidental prod from Dave's elbow later, a dark colored bag was produced. It looked… strange. Karkat watched the human pour some onto his own upturned hand, and made a face. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"What the fuck is that?" </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"They're candy. You wanna try some?" Dave held out his hand holding the weird little bits of… whatever that was. It looked like colored little gravel bits.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Why did Karkat feel like he was being offered drugs?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"I don't give a shit what you call your weird ass drugs."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"It's not drugs, they're pop rocks." </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Why does that sound even more like a name of a drug?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"I dunno, just try some." Dave insisted, nudging him with his elbow. The second bit of contact within the last few moments and it was just as annoying. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"I don't want to."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"If you don't try some, I could force it in your mouth." It was in a playful tone, but Karkat took it as a legitimate threat. Reluctantly he held out his hand to let Dave pour a pinch onto his palm. "It tastes super good, I swear. Let it sit in your mouth for a few seconds, though."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Karkat grumbled and poured a bit in his mouth, an odd sensation immediately starting up. What the fuck? They were popping. In his mouth, and he shot Dave a look of concern. The human just appeared to be on the verge of cracking a grin.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Eventually the weird popping ended and he just looked confused. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"What the fuck." </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He shook his head and groaned. At least it was a good distraction from the near overwhelming anxiety. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"It's super good, I know it. Dude, I got a shit ton of other weird Earth candy you could try." </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Why are you apparently obsessed with me trying your candy?" </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Cuz I've never been able to legitimately meet any troll before, and I feel weird talking to Rose's girlfriend." </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Karkat shot him a suspicious glare. "Yeah, and what apparently are you trying to get out of that?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"First of all, I'm making sure you don't do anything bad to my bro. Cuz if you did, that would be a real dick move. It would be like some shitty ancient movie where the first character -you- are some weird scientist dude and step into a machine to experiment on yourself and end up being turned into a giant ph-" Dave was spewing a bunch of shit and Karkat didn't really want to listen to it, so he kind of just clamped a hand over the humans mouth and put on a look of annoyance. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"While I don't doubt the fact you've dwelled on this homoerotic science fiction premise ever since you heard your brother had a boyfriend, and that you might get off on your weird protective brother shit, I do not care to hear about it." Karkat replied in a just-as-drawn-out way as Dave was doing. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>His hand was eventually pried away and there was a heavy dramaticized sigh. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"I can't make any promises about dick jokes or anything like that, but I will attempt to refrain from doing any more shit like that." The promise didn't sound too genuine, but Karkat assumed that was the best he would get. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Okay, then I guess you can accept my promise that I won't hurt your brother or anything like that. At least, I won't try to." Karkat was finding it very hard not to just blurt out his whole deal with Dirk. If anything, the one person that should not know under any circumstances would be Dave. He could just imagine the two routes, either he gets major ridiculed or he gets extremely close to being murdered - quite possibly worse.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Luckily he didn't have much more opportunity to do so, as out of the corner of his eye he saw movement. He watched the other get up and hold out a hand for him to take. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"They're pretty worried about you. Let's go show them you're not like dead or anything." </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Oh shit. All sorts of bells were ringing in Karkat's head as his gaze fixated on Dave's hand. Touch? Touching time? Was he actually invited to partake in physical contact? Or was this some sort of trick into some weird thing, like a vampire only being allowed inside if invited, maybe Dave was only allowed to do...whatever… if invited. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Okay that last bit was bullshit, and Karkat decided to toss away any specific worry into a tightly sealed internal box. He grabbed Dave's hand and very shakily got up, practically clinging to the human's arm. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He took a deep breath and watched the scenery change. His legs were moving but he wasn't conscious of it, carrying him alongside Dave. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The view changed from the bathroom to the hallway and slowed down near the kitchen, where Dave released him- or tried to, as the drunk troll was damn near clinging with a death grip. He felt his hand get flicked and finally let him go, only to be very suddenly scooped into a hug and lifted off the ground. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Momentarily panicking, Karkat yelped and clung to whoever had grabbed him as a plea to not be dropped. The pointy shades gave it away after a frantically moving gaze, trying to take in as much information as his brain could process at the moment. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Put me the fuck downnn!” He wheezed, his legs were now essentially wrapped around Dirk’s waist as he tried to not be dropped or anything. Of course that really made it kind of difficult to be put down, as the whole clinging thing was very unfortunate. Eventually he was finally set down. He still half-clung to Dirk afterward and wheezed. “You’re an asshole.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I love you too.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>That statement caught him off guard, and his face heated up immediately. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Shut the fuck up or I’m gonna steal your spine.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Sounds like a fun night to me.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>At this point Karkat was getting entirely too flustered, his heart skipping and body feeling overly warm. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh just give me something to fucking drink dammit.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He was soon handed a small glass with some drink in it that he didn’t care to find out what it was, and gulped it down. It burned as it drained into his throat and he coughed. He didn’t imagine he would ever get used to that.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The rest of the night kind of blanked out in places. He was pretty sure in these dark spots, his body was just running on autopilot. Putting on a front to let his brain rest and not elicit too much attention. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>This moment he was sitting on the floor playing what seemed to be shitty beer pong, which was one of the most cliche things he could ever imagine. The shitty part was the fact he was absolutely terrible at it. With his first opponent being Dirk, he couldn't begin to reason why a drunk guy would have such an excellent shot. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The next moment, he was in some sort of nerf battle and hiding behind a door with a gun pressed to his chest as if hugging it. He didn't have nearly enough headgear for this, being hit in the horn with a foam dart wasn't a pleasant experience. Though he had managed to hide that reaction. He checked the time. Getting around 11. How was it only 11, it felt more like it should be around 3 am. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The next significant happening was him realizing they were gathering in the living room in some sort of weird circle. The first thing that popped into mind was holy shit, this is a cult. The next thing that popped into his head was that holy shit, no it's not. He lingered at the edge of the room, watching them. Eventually he was dragged into the ragged circle by Roxy. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"So, what, are we playing?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"I thought since you're kind of new here, we should play truth or dare!"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Why does that sound like a super cliche thing to play?" He felt guilty at the quizzical look from Roxy. "Okay, fine. I'm tired though."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"I second that comment. Tiredness wins out. We could play another time?" Dirk interjected. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Karkat felt a shock and realized yeah, Truth or dare was potentially a really bad thing to play. If they were asked anything about their apparent relationship, the truth would be sifted out faster than an imperial drone could track a mutant. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I guess that's also a promise that I'll have to come back another time, then." He commented with a nervous chuckle. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Ohhhh yes! If it gets you to promise that I will wait even though it will kill me to do so." Roxy smiled at him. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"I look forward to delving a little bit into your truth as well, Karkat." Rose commented, despite clearly being drunk, her stare still served to be entirely intimidating. He felt like his soul was on display with her looking at him. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Luckily this stare didn't last long, though his skin crawled and his heartbeat picked up ever so slightly. At some point he had stripped himself of his coat. It didn't make much difference, he felt extremely warm- but his skin was cold to the touch. The conflicting temperatures aside, he was glad to have an out. If he could get to sleep, then he could calm down a little. Hopefully at least. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Someone must have tried to grab his hand to pull him along, but his balance gave out immediately and he was sent pitched to the floor. He was caught by Dirk, who essentially picked him up and carried him up the stairs. It was very hard for Karkat's currently one-track mind not to focus on Dirk's chest and arms. Damn, how could someone be such a… he didn't even know how to describe it. Maybe one of his friends would call Dirk a twunk. That would be funny. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The jostling motion as he was carried was a little bit dizzying, but soon he was brought to a door. It seemed to be decorated with one large cardboard cutout of a horse, and someone had defiled the majestic beast by tacking a rainbow to its ass and a cowboy hat to its head. How dare anyone do such a thing… and why was Karkat feeling mildly offended by horse griefing. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He tore his gaze away from it as the door was kicked open, and rested his head against Dirk's shoulder. Being carried like this - bridal style - was kind of similar to a really weird dream he had one time. And then it ended up in several subsequent dreams. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Alas, he was set upon a mattress on the floor. He looked around the room. Several metal parts were scattered near an old desk, cartoonish horse posters were on the walls, and he noted one rack of swords mounted on the wall near the bunk bed that Dirk had now crossed to and sat down on the bottom bunk.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"It's not the best place to sleep but it's clean. Dave sometimes sleeps there when he decides he hates his own room and that the top bunk is also utterly stupid." Dirk explained, gesturing to the mattress Karkat sat on. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Karkat nodded. His mind was a mixture of wanting to sleep and being somewhat excited to be where he was. Then he quickly scrubbed the latter from his mind, creepy thoughts like that and he hadn't even known Dave for more than a day. Nonetheless, he did find himself hoping that he could get to know all of them better. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Roxy seemed pretty nice, but definitely wasn't the type of person he would normally befriend. Rose was a mystery bordering on being entirely terrifying. Dirk was… very interesting, to say the least. Karkat couldn't tell what was the faking relationship part and what was real, however. And last of all, Dave seemed very mysterious and even kind of irritating at times. Maybe it was because he wasn't easily read as the others, what with his normally half hidden face. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Karkat thought about them as he laid down on the mattress. He didn't even bother pulling the blanket over himself, and closed his eyes. Their images flashed in his mind as if he was committing each one to memory. The mattress below him gave a quiet plastic creaking noise as he rolled over onto his side, facing Dirk's bed. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Quicker than expected, he drifted off into sleep. As usual, his dreams promised confusing twists, turns, and horrific imagery. </span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Bloodshed</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Karkat does a bad thing unintentionally.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Blood. All Karkat saw was blood. Bright red blood that sent bad memories crashing into the forefront of his mind. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>It took forever for him to process what was going on, he had his hand in up in front of him defensively, blood on his claws. His heart was pounding deafeningly as his gaze locked on the person on the floor in front of him. Dirk was holding the side of his face and nursing an equally wounded arm, in a position that said he had fallen backward at some point. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Suddenly the others were in the room, and Karkat's head was spinning. It felt like he was watching the scene from outside his own body. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>He looked at Rose, who was primarily tending to Dirk's wounds, and Roxy and Dave who were nearby, trying to support him. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Karkat finally grounded himself in the moment and moved forward to help. Suddenly and inexplicably there was the silvery blade of a sword being pointed at him and preventing him from getting any closer. That was Dave.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Karkat hissed and backed away, limbs trembling. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>"I-I'm sorry-" He tried to stammer, only to be strictly ignored.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>"Get away from my brother." Dave said, voice low and dripping with malice. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Karkat's limbs moved without him telling them to, and the next thing he knew, he was sprinting down the stairs and out of the house. The sudden blast of cold night air was like a slap to the face, and only made the tears gathering in his eyes fuller in volume. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>His mind reeled, pulse roaring in his ears and breath coming in shaky, rapid intervals.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The world spun around him as he hopped onto his motorcycle. He cast a glance at the house once more and tried to pull in deep breaths. The blood on his hands was sticky. He couldn't bring himself to look at it, otherwise just the color itself would send him into a downward spiral even if it was still too dark out to make out many colors at all. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>He felt almost slightly more calm after sitting there for a minute. However, he heard the door opening and his panicked response kicked in; he kicked the stand and was very soon riding down the road. The wind whipped at his skin- he had forgotten to put on his helmet, and jacket… oh shit. That was stuff he had left at their house. He accepted the fact he would absolutely never get that stuff back, and blindly rode in the direction he hoped was home. The tears from before and the wind in his eyes made it virtually impossible to see anything. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>It must have been a miracle that he even made it to the parking lot of the dorm building at all. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>His legs carried him inside and down the hall, only one person was there to look at his bloody hand with a suspicious glare. Screw them. It wasn't their business. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>A minute later, he slammed his door behind him. The sound reverberated in his chest, making his heart tremble. The first thing he did was rush to the bathroom and hop into the shower. He scrubbed his skin so hard, his arms and hands had a pinkish red tint to them. The water was hot, but he hardly felt it. He hardly felt <em> anything </em>. Every touch was dull and almost numb. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>He could have been in there for any amount of time, and he had no concept of it. As soon as he stepped out, he finally felt the cold. The chill seeped into his body and down to his bones. Shivering, he walked to his closet to grab some clothes. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>He noted a few of them missing, and thunked his forehead against the closet door. He didn't really have the money to replace those, but he would have to make do. At this point he was pretty sure if those guys ever saw him again, he would be instantly dead. Like a fucking death laser would incinerate him on eye contact. Well, at least he'd die knowing at one point in his life, he was hot as hell. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>He pulled on a pair of boxers and a t shirt that he was pretty sure he had gotten from a hot topic. This hardly helped with the issue of being cold, but at least he was clothed. Wouldn't want the furniture to see him naked, what a scandal. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Karkat looked around his room, mostly at his bed. It was like a black hole, pulling him in. For some reason he didn't really feel scared or bad anymore, but it had only been replaced by a dull numbness that seemed to sprout from his chest and spread to the rest of him. But then the lack of feeling in general sparked fear in him. He shook his head and trudged to his bed, weight giving out. He collapsed onto it and dragged the blanket to cover him. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>The blanket at least brought him a little warmth, and he grabbed his sleeping meds from the nearby windowsill. At least he had left some of those here. He took one and settled back into being curled up under the snuggle plane.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Soon enough he was pulled under the tide of sleep.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>_____</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Dirk gave a slight gasp of pain as his arm was jostled again. He didn't think they really needed to go to the hospital for this, but Dave and Rose had insisted. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>He had some crude bandages covering his wounds. At least he wasn't bleeding out in the car. They pulled into the emergency bay drive in and he was ushered into the hospital. Going from the chill car, to the freezing cold night air, and then being washed over by the warmth inside was almost enough to send him into further shock.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Luckily enough, the warmth was more soothing than anything else. He didn't really need help walking, but he had Rose and Roxy close on either side and holding onto his arm and shoulder. Dave seemed to take the front protectively, and approached the desk. Dirk zoned out as his brother explained what had happened, instead focusing on everything else. There didn't seem to be many people in the waiting room, but they likely would bump someone actively bleeding up to the front of the list. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>The pain in his arm was pulsing with his heartbeat, but the scratches on his face stung the most. He should have known not to wake the sleeping bear, but his concern for the odd troll had overpowered common sense in that case. He mostly regretted not sending Dave after Karkat when he freaked out and ran away. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Within the next few minutes he was boarded onto a rolling bed, and taken down the hallways. They removed his shades, of course, which made him squint against the bright lights. Chills ran down his spine. However, it was not quite caused by anything current. Rather, it was more caused by the shitty memories of too many hospital visits for dumb reasons. The only thing stopping him from actively panicking was the thought of his family being there with him. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>He couldn't see them, but he was pretty sure they were following close behind as he was wheeled into a room.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The next half an hour was made up of bandaging his injuries. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Dirk ended up being very interested in when exactly he would get the mount of gauze taped to his face <em> off </em>. He didn't really understand how he was supposed to do anything with it like that. He definitely couldn't wear his shades, and he knew that eventually would have to deal with the pain of making facial expressions when he had a wound that could be opened. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Not that he tried to show many emotional expressions physically a whole lot. It was kind of a part of his whole front, what other people were supposed to see.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Now they were letting him sit in a room, in the bed. Why was he in a bed when he could be leaving. They had patched him up already. Maybe it was due to the blood loss. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>His head <em> was </em> hurting, but he was pretty sure that it was caused by the bright lights. The next time a nurse came in, he asked her to dim them. That was much better. After a few minutes, Rose, Roxy, and Dave had all filed in. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>"Yo."</p>
<p> </p>
<p>A bit of silence followed, and Dirk suddenly felt like he had a spotlight shined on him. It was like he was a ship at sea, except the lighthouse was just targeted right on him.</p>
<p>Rather, it was like he was a fugitive being tracked by helicopters. That was more accurate. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>"Uh, am I dying or something?" Dirk spoke up again, staring at them. "When they discharge me, how much longer do I have to live?"</p>
<p>He was trying to lighten the mood, but it didn't seem to be working.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“This shouldn’t have happened.” Dave was the first one to speak, and despite his usual calm tone, Dirk could hear the rage just beneath the surface. “Are you sure your <em> boyfriend </em> is really okay to have around?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Rose elbowed Dave and gave the most polite but offended sounding huff ever. </p>
<p>“Excuse me, if you’re saying anything about his <em> species </em>, I assure you. Trolls -the sane ones- are very safe, and they really are only dangerous if they’re provoked.” She eyed Dirk for a moment. “Not that what happened was provoked.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Sane ones. He said he took meds. Or was off of them now. Those could be mood stabilizers or something for all we know.” Roxy said, though her tone was reluctant. She clearly was the one out of the group that liked Karkat more. Or that was most willing to be around him.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Dirk sat up more and sighed. “Guys, he didn’t mean it. You might not have seen it, but he looked pretty fucking sorry for what he did when he realized what was happening.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Yeah, when I had a sword to his throat.” </p>
<p> </p>
<p>He eyed his brother with an annoyed look. “How about we ask Kanaya about him, huh? She’s probably got a better idea about him than any of us.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The idea got them thinking, because the three of them all went quiet and exchanging glances. Roxy and Dave stared at Rose. But Rose was staring at Dirk.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“If you two are dating, shouldn’t you have a pretty good knowledge of each other, too?” She asked, and Dirk felt his heart drop as he was outed. He had only a split second to think about what he could say.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Well, you know. We kinda met through a dating app, didn’t have much in depth information on there.” That was… not the best excuse, but it would do. It obviously didn’t fully convince Rose, but she was hard to convince anyways.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>"And how long ago was this?"</p>
<p> </p>
<p>"Few weeks. Maybe two months. I can't learn everything in two months, Rose."</p>
<p>Something clicked in his head momentarily. </p>
<p>"By the way, where the fuck is John?"</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He glanced around. Couldn't see the blue eyed boy anywhere. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>"He got called in at home a bit ago." Roxy answered almost too quickly. Of course she would know where John is. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>"Huh…" Dirk cleared his throat. "Anyways, just talk to Kanaya. Get her input."</p>
<p> </p>
<p>"I'm not going to call her right now Dirk." Rose responded. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Dirk gave his largely stoic equivalent of a frown. "Ordering me around. I thought I was the older one."</p>
<p> </p>
<p>"For one, I was not ordering you around. And second, I must respectfully say I seriously don't give a shit if you're older than me." </p>
<p> </p>
<p>"Wow, offensive." Dirk let out a fake scoff and glanced around. "Where's my phone?"</p>
<p> </p>
<p>His phone was produced from the pocket of Dave, who was awfully silent right now. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Dirk grabbed the phone with his good hand and leaned back. "I trust Karkat, more or less. He didn't do this shit on purpose, guys." He said as he scrolled through an app on his phone. A few new messages, mostly from his internet friend, Jake. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>"I'll make my judgement on Kanaya's opinion." Dave adjusted his shades as he spoke. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>"Yeah." Guess he couldn't get out of the whole Dave being an ass about new people. Guy was protective as hell of his inner circle, not that Dirk wasn't. Dave just pushed it to the point of blocking new people out. It had taken him a while to warm up to the idea of Rose dating anyone. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>"So when am I gonna get let out of here? I wanna go home." His orange eyes cast upon the three of them with a question held within. While he would typically try to keep his calm, he couldn't deny that hospitals seriously freaked him out. While he waited for a response, his gaze flicked back to his phone screen. A new message, Jake noticing he's online. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>TT: Hey there Jake.</p>
<p>GT: Hello there Dirk! Blimey, you're up rather late.</p>
<p>TT: Yeah. Uh, kind of got into a situation.</p>
<p>GT: Oh? What seems to be the matter?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>"They said they wanna make sure you're not losing too much blood. So it'll probably be a few more minutes." Roxy had her arms crossed and was leaning all her weight into one foot. She was clearly getting some of his secondhand anxiety. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Rose, meanwhile, still appeared to be watching him like a bird that had landed it's gaze on a tasty snack. Her purple eyes reflected the dimmed light of the room, and he felt like the void was consuming his soul. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Dave was the most restless, however, with his hands switching position every minute. If he had been sitting, he would have had his leg bouncing. Dirk could tell that he was mad, and thinking about what had happened. Both of them tended to mull over certain events way too much. Guess it runs in the bloodline.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>No one had much else to add to the matter, so Dave and Roxy had gone on their phones. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Dirk leaned back as far as he could on the bed and groaned. "I'm hungry. We should like, get some paninis." </p>
<p> </p>
<p>"I can't believe you right now." Rose raised a hand to cover her face in a loose facepalm. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>"Isn't there like a Panera or something near here?" </p>
<p> </p>
<p>"Dirk it's probably around 1 am we are not going to an after-hospital-visit panini run." She sounded entirely tired of his bullshit. But he was hungry. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>"I can't believe you're going to starve an injured man. It's not cool. Dave, would you get me some food? If you don't then you're minus 100 cool." </p>
<p> </p>
<p>"Bro, that makes zero fucking sense. But if we stop anywhere it's going to be a drive through and whatever we can get for cheap. No paninis."</p>
<p> </p>
<p>"But Dave. They call to me."</p>
<p> </p>
<p>"Yeah, well hang up."</p>
<p> </p>
<p>"The paninis are gonna pull The Ring on this shit, Dave. Seven days. I'm gonna get killed by a generic horror movie long-black-haired little girl."</p>
<p> </p>
<p>"You're gonna get killed in about ten seconds if you don't shut up about the paninis." </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Dirk rolled his eyes and went back to chatting with Jake.</p>
<p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
<p>TT: Nothing. Everything’s fine, I’m alive.</p>
<p>GT: Which awfully sounds like it implies there would be a possibility you would not be alive?</p>
<p>TT: Is this really the effect your smart people private school had on you?</p>
<p>GT: I’m just trying to be on the same level for once, Dirk! You certainly fared well in your public school.</p>
<p>TT: As it happens Jake, the unfortunate fact is that according to the stereotypes and quite opposite to what I would like to be viewed as, I was a total nerd.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>After that little comment, the doctor came in. Dirk handed his phone back to the others. The doctor cleared him to go home within the next half hour, and he finally managed to head home. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Never got that panini, though. </p>
<p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
<p>_________</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The sun leaked it's glaring light through Karkat's blinds, landing square on his face. This was temporarily halted by a pillow shoved over his face, but suffocation only goes so far. As the necessity to breathe became apparent, he removed the pillow and squinted up at the ceiling. Once he worked up enough of an urge to sit up, he twisted them shut. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Moments later, he collapsed back onto his pillow like the lifeless corpse he dreamed of being. His head hurt, and his short period of being upright had made him dizzy. Not to mention his mouth <em> tasted weird and gross. </em> He glanced around, not seeing any close by source of water. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Karkat sighed and located his phone, hand grasping it like it was an ancient relic that could kill him on the spot if he wasn't the chosen one. Turning it on revealed a low battery and several missed calls and messages. Some from numbers he didn't even know. He also noted that it was now Monday. Meaning he had somehow slept through most of the weekend. Shit. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>He tossed his phone to his side on the bed, and rolled onto his back. Once more he stared at the ceiling. He could very easily just go back to sleep, probably die of dehydration or something along those lines. But then again, his head was pounding and he didn't think he could stand it much longer. </p>
<p>Finally he decided to get up (consciously, at least) for the first time in the last few days, and got himself an entire glass of water. The liquid disappeared rather quickly. Karkat is a magician. The cool liquid was definitely refreshing, and he filled the glass up again. After getting his fill, he went back to his bed and rested once more. Even now his phone pinged. He would check the messages, but then it would show him as online, and he really didn't want to talk to anyone at the moment. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>For the next hour, he mostly stared at his ceiling with his mind blank. The negative, invasive thoughts were fought back, but eventually the memories of the incident weighed on his mind. It was clear that being awake would be a miserable existence any way he went about it. And he had already 'missed his opportunity' to go to classes even though it couldn't be later than 10 am at the latest. Luckily most of his professors were understanding and automatically sent him the project information and some of the other students there sent him some class notes. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>But he wasn't okay right now, that much was obvious. The chances of getting anything finished was about as likely as him getting with Dave fucking Strider himself as it stood at the moment. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Another ping on his phone. He ignored it, sighed, and rolled over. The phone would probably be dead sooner than later anyways, which means the sounds would stop soon, hopefully. With his pillow effectively pulled into hugging position and his hair falling into his eyes, he closed said eyes and tried to get back to sleep. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>_______</p>
<p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
<p>Dirk's proof from Kanaya came with a bit of surprise on some ends. Rose had gathered everyone to have a video call with the troll after a day or two. As could be expected, the call went down awkwardly on both ends. Dave seemed interested to finally talk with Rose's girlfriend face to face, and the majority of the conversation featured Kanaya as the most composed and calm people that Dirk have ever met. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Even while sternly explaining that her friend would never hurt anyone on purpose - she even shared that Karkat had apparently cried at some point because of minorly injuring a friend on accident- she kept her calm and didn't break even the slightest. Even as Dave interjected his interrogation questions into the conversation. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>If Dirk was entirely honest, he was kind of shocked that Dave was acting differently recently, but he was also entirely worried at not having heard from Karkat for a few days. Granted, the whole thing was a fiasco, a disaster, and if he were in the same case he'd probably stayed away from this family and not even tried approaching it with a hundred foot pole. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>But no, the thing he was more concerned about the fact absolutely none of them managed to spot him in the hallways at all for the last few days. Not even John, who was closer to Karkat than any of them. It was well into Wednesday now, and there had still been no sign of the crabby troll. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Rose consulted Kanaya for advice, who seemed frankly worried herself. It turned out that after their family talk, she had even tried contacting him to no avail. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>At this point Dave had mostly cooled off from his murderous attitude toward Karkat, and even joined the others in their concern. Dirk was entirely certain that Dave would blame himself if anything happened, so around lunch time Roxy had a brilliant idea as they all sat down to Subway together. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>"Dave needs to go apologize to Karkat." She said, resulting in an amused huff from Dirk. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>"I think the moment Dave showed up at his door, Karkat would be expecting the grim reaper to show up any moment." He leaned back in his seat with sandwich in hand(s). "He'd die of fright before Dave would get a word in."</p>
<p> </p>
<p>"I think you give Karkat too little credit. No, even before Dave would get there, Vantas would be halfway to the Canadian border." Roxy chimed in with a joking tone. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>"Bro, Vantas wouldn't even fucking see me approaching. I'd sneak in there like a fuckin ninja, then appear in his room to give him the sweet release of bro-pologies." Dave said. He was mostly picking at the crumbs that had fallen from his sandwich already, even though he only took about three bites of it. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Rose's leaning forward with her arms on the table told all of them this was only going one direction. "Sweet release?"</p>
<p> </p>
<p>"If you're going to tell me that sounds like a euphemism, I caught that after I said it."</p>
<p> </p>
<p>"Lovely that you want to help Dirk give his apparent boyfriend the sweet release." Rose said, which was a little more on the line than what she normally kept conversation to. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Dave copied her leaned forward position and used a strip of iceberg lettuce from his or one of their sandwiches to point at her. "Wait, apparent boyfriend? Is there something I need to know?" </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Dirk had mostly been out of the conversation for the last few exchanges, but now he felt the coming dread as if he was about to be plunged into freezing cold water. Damn Rose and her psychological bullshit. Damn himself for understanding exactly why she liked to do said psychological bullshit, because he used to pull the exact same shit. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>"Oh, I guess I must have caught one of your little slips." Rose said, shrugging.</p>
<p>There was something to his tone that told him this would not be the end of her digging into his psyche. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>"Or maybe because I've decided to break it off, and our sibling here likes to read my mind before I've even acted on my decisions." Dirk cut in, shrugging as well. "At least, I will when we make sure he's fine." </p>
<p> </p>
<p>That seemed to sate Rose's desire for the time being, and they were able to get back to their food. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>"Does that mean he won't be around anymore?" Roxy's disappointed question popped in after a solid three minutes of quiet eating. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Dirk hesitated, not knowing how to respond to that. He wasn't even really sure if Karkat would want to be involved with them, much less <em> around </em>. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>"I guess that depends on him?" He finally replied, at least one truth coming out of all this. He hadn't really planned for any specific outcome to Karkat's involvement, it had been a split second panicked decision, more or less. This was why he liked at least two weeks of planning anything, specifically for things like this. Getting people involved that didn't need to be was like a worst nightmare. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>"Maybe I should try talking to him, then." Roxy suggested, looking at all of them for support. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Rose sighed and shook her head. "Unfortunately I think the only two people that could do any solving would be Dave or Dirk. Unfortunately with Dirk, it wouldn't really provide the much needed resolution on Dave's part. While it would likely be effective to go as a group, or at least a pair regarding you two, he would probably just be intimidated and go on lockdown." </p>
<p> </p>
<p>"That's a lot of likely and probably." </p>
<p> </p>
<p>"Yes. I haven't known Vantas for long enough to gauge him, so I am unaware of how he would potentially react in this situation. Even if I was, the best I could make anyways is an educated guess." </p>
<p> </p>
<p>"Can we just send Dave in with the promise of not being a total dumbass and go with that?" Roxy huffed. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Rose tapped a finger on the table. "Are you certain we even should do something like that at this point?" She asked, "Because as it stands, we may just make the situation worse. If he needs his time alone we shouldn't intrude on it. Plus, given the information I have right now, none of us are nearly close enough in relationship to him to warrant showing up at his door."</p>
<p> </p>
<p>"But even Kanaya said that he isn't responding to her, either." Roxy pointed out. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Rose paused, her expression turning thoughtful. "I suppose it is true… but I think maybe we should wait a bit longer. Maybe another day, see if we get anything from him."</p>
<p> </p>
<p>This decision was begrudgingly accepted by the group, and John came into lunch late. They discussed the plan for if they did have to bust down Karkat's door. Dave would go first, if that backfired then Dirk would be somewhere nearby to support him. If Karkat still refused to answer, they'd either have to knock down the door or something else super drastic. Rose sent this plan to Kanaya for approval, and the jade blood had no real qualms about it. Other than an offhand comment saying she would just go right for busting the door down. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Since even with their belief that him and Karkat were dating this was a weird thing to do, Dirk had his own doubts; most of them went unsaid. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>After lunch was finished everyone filed to the vehicles that brought them there and went home. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Dirk went over the plan in his mind, staring out the window.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Hopefully it would go well.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. They Ate All The Damn Breadsticks.</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Why yes, he would like this order to go.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Soz if this chapter is a bit slow or doesn't have much happen, I just wanted to get out what I had before anything else happened :&gt;</p>
<p>Remember to stay inside and wash your hands, guys! Stay safe!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Karkat was trying to sleep. This wasn't working. It turns out sleeping for a little over what he estimated to be three days straight, it didn't really allow for much sleep past that. Of course, he had half woken up in this time span, but it wasn't nearly enough to qualify as genuinely being awake. These half-awake moments had primarily been filled with the consumption of water, trips to the bathroom, and the very occasional feast on stale cereal he kept in a box in the cupboard. Even if he would prefer to just die right then and there, apparently starvation or dehydration was unallowed by his basic brain function. So that mostly only left him with the few possessions he had. Getting found dead in a motorcycle accident sure would be a way to go. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>His internal struggle with the ways in which his life could potentially end was cut short by a rustling outside. His window was only opened a crack, but his blinds were shuttered. This meant he couldn't see jack shit outside from where he was laying. He ignored it, since it was probably just a really big thief beast or something along those lines. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>That was, until the noise was heard again, and a bit closer to the window. It was followed by something that might have sounded like a voice but could very well have been the wind. Karkat sat up and growled, peeking through a slit in the blinds and seeing nothing. There was nothing out there, which meant he could go back to the sleep he had absolutely no reason to be skipping out on. He tried to check his phone, but that was dead. He reached over the edge of the bed to snatch the end of his charger, and plugged in the phone. He guessed it was around midnight, all things considered. It was especially dark outside. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He didn't have time to verify with his phone, because there was another sound. By now he was sure someone was fucking with him, it was probably one of those shitty college pranks that happened rarely but often enough to be viable in this situation. Oh well, if they wanted a rise out of him, they wouldn't get it. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Karkat could only see the contents of his own room because of the whole troll night vision thing - it was very dark outside and within his room, however.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>More subtle noises, and he felt a chill run down his spine. Who or what could possibly be out there. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>A bit later the noises stopped, this time followed by complete and utter silence. He felt like he should probably end up looking out the window, if not to check for danger then to comfort himself in the fact it was just him being paranoid. So, he sat up and shifted closer to the window, grabbing the cord to pull the blinds open. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He had to psych himself up for this, paranoia only growing by the minute. Of course there wouldn't be anything out there, he just had to prove it. And alas, with one fluid motion he pulled open the blinds. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>At first he didn't see anything, then the next moment he was practically falling backward off of his bed because of the face pressed up to the window. Now all he knew is that he was on the floor, in pain, and there was a figure in the window that he could see out of the corner of his eye. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>After adjusting to the sudden shock, he got up and crawled back onto the bed. There was Dave Strider, at his window, waving. Karkat's heart dropped through his chest and into the very pits of hell as he witnessed this odd scene. His first thought was </span>
  <em>
    <span>oh shit he's here to kill me</span>
  </em>
  <span> but that idea didn't match up to what looked like Dave trying to make a friendly-ish smile. It looked like he was in pain, and Karkat couldn't even see his eyes. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The human gestured for the window to be opened. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Karkat responded by raising up a middle finger and shutting the blinds. A knock on the window followed. And then another. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He laid back down and covered his head with his pillow, muffling all the noises.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The knocking continued, getting more rapid at some moments and slower at others. Eventually Karkat got tired of the noise and growled, opening the blinds and partially opening the window. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“What the fuck do you want.” Shit, was that </span>
  <em>
    <span>HIS</span>
  </em>
  <span> voice? Damn, he sounded really hoarse.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Dave pried the window open a little more and gave a bit of a lazy grin. “Hey there. Wanted to make sure you were alive.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh fuck! Look, I am that thing that you said! Now fuck off.” Karkat tried to close the window again, but couldn’t get it closed because Dave held it open. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Nah nah, Dirk is here. He wants food. And also to talk.” Dave explained, looking inside. “Get ready. We gotta go.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Karkat wanted to just shut the window on him, but his concern overrode his antisocial feelings. “Is Dirk okay?” He asked, claws lightly tapping on the windowsill. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah. Complaining a lot about his bandages but he’s good. Hurry up.” Dave made a shooing motion.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Karkat growled slightly at him and got up, his pulse picking up a bit. Normally he would absolutely refuse, but something about Dave made him want to Just Go With It. Not wanting to really dress up for anything, he just pulled on a fresh shirt and some pants. He glanced to the window, seeing Dave leaning back against the building. Karkat went back over to the window and huffed. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Aren’t you gonna like, meet me in the hallway?” he asked, and Dave shrugged.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Nah, you should meet us out here. Or go through the window.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Wat. I am not going through the fucking window. That’s the dumbest shit I’ve ever heard.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I never said you had to. Whatever’s faster.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Well fuck, Strider, we sure both know what’s faster but I’m still not going to do that.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Just fucking hurry up, we made a reservation dammit.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“That doesn’t seem like a me problem to me, that sounds like a you problem for-”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Shutthefuckup and come on! Before I get in there and drag you out myself.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I’d like to fucking see you try.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>To Karkat’s surprise, Dave actually did push the window fully open and started climbing in. The plastic edging on the frame creaked, and suddenly Dave was sitting next to him on the bed.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Okay, but seriously, are you alright?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Karkat was taken aback by the sudden and rather disturbing circumstances that resulted in this concern to be shown.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I don’t fucking get you.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“You aren’t supposed to </span>
  <em>
    <span>get </span>
  </em>
  <span>me.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Dipshit, you know what I meant." He lightly smacked Dave's arm, but given the circumstance and his aversion to even slightly hurting anyone at any given point, it was more like an awkward if not somewhat energized pat. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"I will literally carry you out of this goddamn room." </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Why are you so eager to get me out of my room? Don't you… like… fucking hate me?" The question had been weighing on his mind for a while now. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>There was a moment of hesitation that caused Karkat's ascending spirits plummet into oblivion. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"I… Well. I kind of did for a bit, but not so much anymore. If that makes any sense." Dave admitted, planting a hand on Karkat's shoulder. The touch sent warm tingles under the troll's skin, not only was a fairly attractive guy touching him but it was also the most positive physical contact that Karkat had in around a week. Furthermore it was made more intense by the fact the most recent memory he had of Dave involved a sword and near murder. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Karkat couldn't let himself appear outwardly affected, so he lightly smacked the hand away. "Yeah yeah, just get your grubby mitts off of me. I'm hungry, let's go." He got up and headed for the door, making sure he had whatever he might need. He quickly grabbed his phone, which was now on. He saw a missed call from his therapist. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Fuck! I think I have an appointment tomorrow, do you think you could take me?" He asked Dave as they both headed out of the room and building. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Oh, sure. Now let’s go eat.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Wait, isn't it too late to go to eat anywhere?"</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"It's only like…8?"</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Oh, well shit. Maybe it wasn't midnight then, it was just dark super early. Not unusual for winter. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Yeah, but that's still late for a restaurant reservation…"</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"You'd be surprised at how late some places are open around here."</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>They walked out into the cold night air, and Karkat was immediately startled by a honk. Dirk's car was waiting on the side of the road, waiting for them both. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Karkat slowly approached the car and lingered with his hand on the door handle. He eyed Dirk, watching for any current sign of any injury. Eventually Dirk turned his head, revealing the square of gauze taped to his cheek. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He hesitated, edging closer to the window that Dirk was sitting behind. “Hey, uh… are you okay?” He asked, hand resting on the window. Dirk nodded and gestured to the back seat door. Karkat, of course, disregarded this and headed for the front seat. He practically ran into Dave within the next second, both of them working for the same end.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Karkat glared at him and gave a low halfhearted growl. “Bitch, hands off, I’m taking front.” He tried to open the door, but Dave put his knee in the way, keeping it closed.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Dude, front seat is property of Strider ass. Vantas ass is not welcome.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I don’t give a shit about your Strider ass property. I’m going to sit in the fucking front seat and you can’t do shit.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“And what are you gonna do about it, shorty?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m going to snap your shins.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah, you couldn’t hurt anything - at least not on purpose.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Karkat opened his mouth to retort, but he didn’t have any argument. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Fuck you!” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Of course he resorted to that, temporarily forgetting the entire reason they were here. It was a relief to finally get his mind off of it mostly. Mostly. There was a nagging bit in the back of his mind that tried to remind him, but he pushed it back.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Dave’s hand came to pry his own off of the handle, so he responded by elbowing him away. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Stahp. Just lemme sit up front.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Nah, you’ll probably get Dirk hurt again.” The moment the words were out of his mouth, Dave obviously regretted them. He quickly started to apologize, but Karkat simply pushed past and  opened the back door, sitting in the seat and slamming the door shut.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Jesus, careful, man. You’re gonna break something.” Dirk said as a light warning.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Dave sat in the front seat with a heavy sigh. As soon as the door was closed, Dirk started driving off. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The journey was quiet for a while, until Dirk flicked on some music. Karkat made a discomforted face as the music filled the car. He normally wouldn’t mind it, but his own thoughts were loud and the music surely didn’t help with all the internal screaming. He had hoped his incident with Dirk would go unmentioned for at least the beginning of the trip, but apparently not.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He could feel the anger seething alongside the sadness, and he couldn’t exactly act on either of those things. If he acted on his anger then he would be seeming entirely out of place, and these two definitely weren’t his therapist so there wasn’t any talking about sadness.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Fuck, he didn’t even know these two enough to dump his emotions on them anyway.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>They arrived at what looked like some sort of knockoff Olive Garden. Dave practically bolted out of the car, and Karkat and Dirk followed much slower. While still not knowing these two very well, he stuck close to Dirk. He needed a chance to really apologize, and also hopefully discuss the Tea™.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The area was surrounded by darkness both in mood and actuality. There were many clouds in the sky, meaning moonlight was at an all time low; down the street in either direction a few lone streetlamps flickered. The building they approached was pretty spaced away from the other buildings, which had a sort of abandoned feel all the way down the street.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The cold was enough to seep past his clothes and suddenly he was regretting his choice of clothing. Luckily he didn’t have very far to walk until the glass doors of the restaurant were opened and warm air blasted him in the face. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The front room of the building was a small waiting room, no one currently at the desk- until a waitress came up to them, smiling. The expression was clearly forced, just too wide to be real and her eyes revealing something not quite right.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Greetings! You must be the reserved ‘Strider’, yes?” She addressed Dave in a forced cheerful tone. Upon getting a confirmation, she quickly walked to a booth, flats tapping on the hardwood floor.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Karkat waited for Dirk to slide into the seat before following him. He felt like he had to be on the outside of the seat in case he had to run. Likely an illogical feeling, but he had to have some sort of escape. Just in case.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Holy shit breadsticks. An ancient-looking human man in waiter-wear brought them a basket and the smell blasted Karkat’s senses. After hardly eating for an entire week, breadsticks of this quality were a blessing. Within seconds after the waiter leaving, he was grabbing a breadstick and chomping it down. He could feel the other two at the table staring at him through their shitty coolguy shades. Fuck them, he was happy to eat. Okay, maybe not ‘fuck them’, they would be the ones paying for the food.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>As he was well through two breadsticks and working on a third, Karkat slowed down and sat back, slouching and avoiding eye contact.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Uh… sorry.” He swallowed his current bite and coughed. Dirk’s hand came to rest on his shoulder.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s cool. We get it, you’re hungry.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Karkat gave a tiny grin and looked at Dirk, purposefully avoiding looking at Dave. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m fucking starving.” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I bet. You uh, up to talking… about, uh, stuff yet?” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Karkat sighed again and slid down even further down the seat. “What exactly do you… mean?” Using way too many ellipses aside, he intended to play as dumb as possible. When his question was met with silence, he finally sat up straighter. “Okay, can I eat first? I need a full stomach if I’m going to start being emotional.” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah, yeah, of course.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Hey Karkat.” Dave said.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Karkat shot him a half-glare and huffed, now hunching over the table mid-chew well into another breadstick. However it seemed like Dave had eaten the other half of the basket of bread, Dirk having a measly single stick of bread in his hand. Someone ought to fucking bet on this shit because Karkat would be the one eating the most bread tonight even if he regretted it.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“The fuck do you want.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Kanaya’s said she’s pretty worried about you.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Oh no. Karkat didn’t even think before, “FUCK. Oh fuck oh fuck-” He aggressively patted his pockets but his phone must have been left somewhere. “Shit she’s going to kill me oh my gog.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Well, this was it. He was most certainly going to die at the hands of an angry jade blood and he had little to no way of stopping it. If she hadn't booked a flight there already, she surely would soon. While he could move to another country, Kanaya could probably track him down within weeks. Maybe even days. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>His panic only served to amuse his late dinner companions, whom he shot a glare at. He couldn't even blame them, even indirectly. He'd dug himself into this hole and now he was gonna have to sit at the bottom- but damn it all if he didn't manage to shout at and scare several people while doing so. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Relax, I think Rose managed to convince her that the situation was handled. As long as you actually talk to her, of course." Dave said.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Thank gog for Rose, then. Another one of this family that he would have to owe a life debt to. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Another thing to postpone his inevitable, painful death. That may or may not be caused by himself or his own stupid actions. He still wasn’t convinced Kanaya wasn’t going to come breaking into the restaurant, chainsaw full rev, but he could at least relax a bit. The waiter hobbled over to take their order, his almost entirely white hair in all its glory.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The man seemed more like he belonged in some rich guy’s mansion asking ‘sir would you like a tiny glass of water’. But no, he was working… here.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Karkat ordered some simple spaghetti with nothing fancy, mostly because he just wanted to order the simplest thing he could see. The other two chose what they wanted and the table once again fell into silence. Instead of staring at the table, Karkat looked around. The restaurant was a bit dim, the air was entirely warm. However, a few random gusts of cold air came to the table, and he couldn’t pinpoint where it was coming from.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Half of the restaurant’s lights were off, though it was the area close enough to the back that it wasn’t exactly bothersome. There was an overall gothic feel to the interior, kind of feeling like some shitty horror movie mansion.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Okay, the place wasn’t shitty, but it felt like that was what it was trying to copy.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Finally the food came and Karkat happily dug in. A quarter of the way into the plate, he heard one of the Striders clear their throat.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He looked up, both of them were staring at him- or he assumed they were, those damn shades blocked their eyes- especially in this dim-ass restaurant.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“So, uh… are you really feeling alright, Vantas?” Dirk spoke up, slightly turning to face the troll.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Karkat was baffled at the concern toward himself. “I’m the one that should be fucking asking you, gog damn it!” He accidentally raised his voice, and then winced as one of the staff shushed him. “Sorry, I just…” he let out a heavy breath. "I'm so, so sorry for hurting you. I…" he would have added something, but for fear of it sounding like an excuse, he shut his mouth and kept it locked tight. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Dude, it's alright. I survived."</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Yeah, the rest of them were kinda more worried about you basically dying for a week." </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"As if you weren't about to lose your shit the last day or two because you thought-"</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Okay maybe I was a little worried too, shut the fuck up."</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Karkat kept quiet for the attempt at a lighthearted argument. When they seemed finished, he pretty much half-tackled Dirk in the seat, arms practically constricting him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The other seemed to not mind very much, and he felt arms reluctantly coming around him too. God this was awkward but at the moment Karkat didn’t care.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m sorry, I have so many fucking explanations for why the hell that happened but it would just sound like an excuse.” He shook his head and pulled away, making distance between himself and the other. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m kind of curious, though. You didn’t really seem in control at the time, is it some sort of troll thing?” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Are you… really sure you wanna discuss this over food?” He asked, “It’s mostly because of… well, evolutionary bullshit I guess.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“So, a troll thing.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Karkat shifted a bit and picked at his food, not looking at either of them, but instead at his food. “Yeah, I guess? It’s a result of being frequently attacked during sleep over the years, so now it’s instinct for trolls to, upon being woken up, lash out at the person or thing waking them up…” He explained. “Basically, the only people that should ever really try waking a sleeping troll up is their matesprit or moirail.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“So Dirk didn’t really count as either of those?” Dave leaned forward with his elbows on the table, and Karkat could feel the look he was giving.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Karkat huffed, thinking quick for an explanation.”Usually matesprit or moirail bonds are formed after knowing someone for a while; and no offense, but I wasn’t really in a familiar space with people I trusted.” It was true, though used as an excuse. “When you saw me wake up and attack you, I wasn’t even awake - my brain was acting for me, as a defense mechanism. I know that doesn’t excuse anything, and I should have warned you beforehand…”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah, it seems like two people in a relationship would make each other aware of things like this.” Dave said, clearly hinting around.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Karkat stared at the other for a few solid seconds before giving a small growl. “You know already, don’t you?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Do you think you know what I know?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Do you know what you know, though?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I know what I know as much as you know I know what I know.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“You’re hurting my brain you two dorks, damn it.” Dirk groaned, interrupting this conversation from unfolding into more madness. "But seriously dude, all the factors at that point were pointing in a negative direction and it's alright. Even I knew it may have been a bad idea to try and wake you but I still did." He said reassuringly- and then sent a half-glare at Dave.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Fine, I guess I'm sorry that I almost wrecked your shit with my epic sword." Dave said reluctantly, shrugging. "It would have been the coolest death if all else failed, though, simply because I was there."</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Yeah yeah, we are all aware of how utterly cool you and your family is." Karkat said sarcastically, feeling much better now. It felt like he had a weight taken off his chest, his lungs felt less constricted. And God damn he was happy to be eating an actual meal instead of cheap instant noodles or stale cereal. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>While these two stressed him out to no end up until now, he still was kind of afraid of going back home alone.He never really was very good at living alone, and being in a building full of countless other people in the same-ish situation didn’t help the fact that being alone just felt dangerous.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Swords are infinitely cooler for self defense than some fuckin claws. Damn, imagine having claws. Couldn’t be me.” Dave sighed dramatically.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Karkat sneered. “Yeah, cuz you pink hairless monkey things have so many naturally cool things about you. Like the fact your skin rips as easily as paper- or, </span>
  <em>
    <span>or </span>
  </em>
  <span>the fact that you have a sun that isn’t deadly as hell.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“The sun is a deadly laser Karkat, but some lasers are just less deadly than others- or they take longer to act, therefore being very useful for torture techniques.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Even your rainbow drinker myths are less cool than ours- specifically because ours actually exist in some forms.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Wait, what?” Dirk and Dave both said in unison. “What do you mean?” Dirk asked.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Rainbow drinkers exist, or at least in some forms they do. Some jadebloods have glowing skin, some can move insanely fast… some even drink blood. The first two things are more or an evolutionary trait from living in the caverns on Alternia for so long.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Damn, that’s kinda cool. Didn’t you say Kanaya was a jade blood? Is she a… rainbow drinker?” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Karkat eyed both of them as this question came up, not sure whether he should say anything. “Well, uh, I don’t think it’s any of my business to give that information away. You might have better luck asking your sister, anyways.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“So you’re telling me alien vampires are real? Next thing you’ll be telling me is that magic is real.” Dave scoffed. His voice was playful but Karkat couldn’t help but be entirely infuriated by just the sound of it. Yes, fury, that was what he was feeling. Absolutely nothing else. Nothing could be construed from his evident fury, no.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I mean, in some ways magic is r-” Karkat was cut off by a finger pressing to his lips, and scowled at Dirk. “Bold of you to put your finger so close to my mouth.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I swear to god if you suck his finger I am going to vomit.” Dave interjected, doodling on his napkin with a pen. Karkat couldn’t see it fully from where he was at, but it looked… vaguely lewd. “I don’t wanna see any of that gay shit while I’m tryin’ to eat, y’all.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He then let out a tiny, near inaudible gasp as Dirk stole the napkin and looked at it. Now in full view, there was a doodle of a human phallus on it.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah, I think you might have to worry about the gay shit coming from yourself, dude.” Dirk chuckled and held it out of reach as Dave tried to snatch it from across the table. He clearly didn’t try very hard.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“No, bro. I’m not gay, I’m just drawing a part of me. I am perfectly straight.” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Karkat listened to this comment and was torn between the feeling of disappointment that arose and thinking ‘that’s such a damn lie’. “Did you just say y’all, before?” He asked the next thing that came to mind. Now that he thought about it, Dave did have a bit of an accent. He was certain he had thought about this before, but the memories that were brought up by that idea were fuzzy and dark.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah, ya got an issue with it?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He shook his head. “No, no, I just… what region would that accent be from? It sounds… uh, anyways.” He asked, extremely curious. A region of Alternia had a similar dialect and accent but of course the language was different there. And while Karkat had a moderate understanding of the planet’s political regions, he wasn’t aware of the dialect differences between all of them.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Texas, it’s more of a Texan accent… I’m nowhere near as ‘bad’ as some people from there, though.” Dave had a slight concerned air about him. Karkat, meanwhile, had a glint of interest in his eyes.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He quickly ate a few more bites of the food he had on his plate, and looked between them. “S-So…” He winced at his own stammer. “Um, what are we doing after this?” He forced himself to speak without interruption, though his words were slower. He didn’t have much of an idea of what they would do other than take him back home. Maybe now that they knew he was, well, alive, they’d want to cut ties.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Do you want to do anything specific?” Dave asked.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Uh, no? I guess you could just take me back… Thanks for the food, guys.” Karkat said awkwardly, arms crossing defensively over his chest. “I’ve gotta get working on what I missed, anyways.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Do you think we’re going to let you go disappear again? If we let you do that shit then you won’t be the only one in the midst of Kanaya’s wrath.” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Uhm… does that mean if I wanna work on my shit that I have to go to your house again?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Either that or one of us is going to stay in your room and I sure as hell can guarantee that our home is larger in most ways.” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Karkat was somewhat alarmed by this reaction, if not just surprised. He wasn’t really prepared for the force of… whatever this was. It felt wrong for some reason, even if logically there wasn’t much he could see bad about it. Who ever knew that people could actually care about him- other than Kanaya of course. But… well, Kanaya was a different story.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Why are you so concerned about me?” He had to ask; it was hard for him to think of.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Dirk’s expression went neutral with a hint of a frown. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Because you’re Dirk’s boyfriend? For now at least.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>That hint was alarming. More alarming than everything before. “Wait, what the fuck do you mean by ‘for now’?” He looked at Dirk expectantly, eyes narrowing.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Well, uh, </span>
  <em>
    <span>weweren’tsupposedtotalkaboutthatyet-</span>
  </em>
  <span>” Dirk aggressively whispered toward Dave.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Karkat saw his opportunity and was perfectly willing to take it. “So you’ve been planning this shit while I wasn’t even in communication? Bitch!” He lightly smacked his hands on the table surface, feigning fury. “You think you can just soften me up with some shitty pasta-” He winced and mouthed a ‘sorry’ toward the waiter, who was standing by calmly, “-and then come in for the fucking kill when I least expect it, huh?” He stood up and glared at Dirk, whose mouth edges were very slightly twitching.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Karkat hissed quietly, scuttled out of the booth seat and turned to mock-angrily stamp out of the building. The cool air was a bit refreshing. He was actually kind of angry, Dirk had seemed like he was about to laugh and that would have ruined the entire thing. Now he had the opportunity to break up this fake relationship. Hopefully he would get some ‘cool off’ time and then when he started talking to Dirk again, they could pretend to just be friends then. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The darkness of the outside was cut short by a sudden flash, and a distant bit of thunder boomed through the sky. Immediately after, he felt a few thin water droplets land on him, and he huffed. He chose the wrong time to storm out of the restaurant. As he was leaning back against the driver’s door he was urging the Striders to hurry their asses up.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>By the time they were starting to make their way out, it felt like it had been ages. He was already getting tiny shivers running through his body. The cold was setting in by now and he was tired of waiting in the cold and wet.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>At this point he just wanted something warm to snuggle up to and get some relaxation time in. But unfortunately his one outlet has kind of been ruined because of the shitty fake breakup. His one excuse for acquiring physical affection was ruined. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He saw Dirk approaching first, footsteps slapping quietly on the wet pavement. His mouth opened, and Karkat prepared himself to play up some reactions. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Don't even fucking start with me, bitch. Just drive me wherever I need to be at and then leave me alone." He snapped, hoping beyond hope that this pretend hatred wouldn't actually affect Dirk. The last thing he wanted was to pile emotional pain on top of physical injury. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The only good out of this was the apparent awkward discomfort Dave was giving off like an aura. "Do you, uh, want the front seat now?"</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"What do you think, dipshit?" Karkat snapped, glaring at him. The troll opened up the back door after it was unlocked and slipped into the chilly seat. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>They all fell into an uncomfortable silence. Dirk took the opportunity to reach for the radio, but Karkat snapped.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Don't you fucking dare turn anything on." He growled, becoming the seething ball of fury in the back seat. It got to the point that fake rage was boiling into bordering real anger, and he had to try and pace his breathing. Calm down. There's nothing actually happening. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Luckily Dirk refrained, so Karkat was able to have some peace within his mind given the circumstance. Even though his thoughts were a crescendo of madness, at least he didn't have to deal with a fuck ton of noise on top of it. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"I deserve, so much compensation for this." Karkat was somewhat wishing he had a metric Fuck ton of alcohol right now. Honestly that would be preferable to this situation. Now he had to battle his actual anger along with fake anger. He also had to question whether he was actually going to end up going home with them. Whoops. That kind of messed things up.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The ride seemed to stretch on forever, and Karkat was pretty sure his brain was making up about an infinite number of scenarios where this could go. With the way he was processing things, the view outside passed at half the speed.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But soon, they arrived at the campus. He stared at the double doors signaling the entrance to the dormitory hallways.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He couldn’t have gotten out of the car faster, it hadn’t even fully gone quiet before he was speedwalking toward the doors. He heard footsteps following behind, but didn’t bother to check who it was until he got to his door.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"So what's the plan?" He turned to see Dave, which was a mild surprise. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Well, you're still coming with us." </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"I'm… tired." It wasn't exactly a lie. He was mentally and emotionally exhausted still, but physically? All his senses were practically on high alert. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Well, grab what you need. We do have some of your stuff at home, though."</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Yeah, fucking thieves." Karkat half-joked, though it sounded serious. "You guys better not have done anything to my shit." </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Trust me dude. All of our hands have avoided your stuff, which is in a safe space."</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"You had to touch it to move it, jackass."</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Okay, other than to move it, no one touched it." Dave promised, putting a hand on his chest as if that signified anything. Karkat had nothing else to retort, so he just opened his door. He found his phone still in the room, luckily safe and sound. He must have accidentally left it behind. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He grabbed all the necessities that he knew weren't at their place already. Which was, basically nothing other than his charger and phone. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>His gaze now landed on the doorway, where Dave was waiting. He started to approach, but something caught his eye- a note attached to the wall, inside the room. "What the fuck?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Karkat grabbed it and opened it.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <b>
    <em>Hello karkat~</em>
  </b>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The note was written in neat handwriting, but could have easily been from anyone. It felt like he’d been dunked into a pit of ice water. He snatched the note and viciously ripped it up, throwing it in the trash. The next moment he was grabbed onto Dave’s arm, his fingers pressing into the skin of the human’s wrist. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Go. Now. Let’s go.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He muttered, then practically dragged Dave out and locked the door behind him. Whoever had gotten in his room… had it been one of the Striders? Or one of their siblings, trying to get revenge? ...no, it couldn’t be. He might not know them very well, but he had the feeling they wouldn’t do something like that, not even if they were super mad at him.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He at least had to keep up his hopes that it wasn’t them, or else he could be getting into some deep shit.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He could hear Dave saying something, but he didn’t listen. He registered the mild concern in the other’s voice, however.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Let’s just fucking </span>
  <em>
    <span>go</span>
  </em>
  <span>.” Karkat urged, glancing at the other. His expression must have revealed his true emotion; Dave stopped short and grabbed Karkat so he stopped too.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“What happened? What was that note?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s none of your fucking business.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Dude. I get you’re a total badass and are practically physically incapable of sharing anything or some shit, but if there’s something going on it’d be kinda wack not to tell the person -or people- that could help you.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Nothing is fucking happening! There’s nothing going on! Let go of me.” Karkat eyed Dave’s hand on his arm. Luckily it didn't take long for the demand to be met. He muttered something that could have been a thank you but it also could have been a fuck you. He knew Dave wouldn't leave this alone, but at least as they approached his borderline panic, it would be dropped. It turns out that it was raining harder now. Within seconds of walking outside, Karkat felt his hair was soaked, if not all of his other pieces of clothing. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He approached the car and huffed loudly. This sucked. Big time. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>At least the car ride didn’t take long. Or it didn’t feel like it took long, because he passed out somewhere on the way there. The next thing he knew, he was basically being carried inside by Dirk, who clearly hadn’t wanted to wake him up.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Ew. Why the fuck are you carrying me?” Karkat growled, squirming somewhat before he accepted the fact he didn’t want to be dropped on the pavement below. The door was getting closer, though. He was glad about the fact that hopefully he’d be able to be warm soon, and not wet.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Because you were asleep.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Hands off the merchandise, buddy. I don’t need you to fuckin carry me!” Karkat lightly elbowed Dirk’s chest. He was also glad, now, that he was put down so he could walk. “If you think this whole shitty knight in shining armor shtick is gonna get you on better terms, you better fucking try again, you nookwhiffing asshole.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Wow, creative. I was simply transporting you, since the whole idea is that it’s a </span>
  <em>
    <span>bad idea</span>
  </em>
  <span> to wake you up.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Ugh!” Karkat didn’t have an argument for that, but now he was at the door and opened it. He walked in without even waiting for Dirk to go first, because fuck it. He was greeted by the glances of Rose, Roxy, and John. He didn’t really feel like dealing with anyone, so he was making a beeline for the bathroom. Before he went very far, he stopped in his tracks. “Where’s my shit.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>John, who was in the hallway, grabbed a bag of stuff from a closet and handed it over. Inside was everything Karkat had left.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Thanks.” Karkat muttered and continued on his way. “I’m tired.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Wait wait wait.” Dave seemed to be trying to follow. He had to literally step in front of Karkat to make him stop. “You’re gonna be sleeping with me tonight.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Karkat’s mind instantly went the wrong direction and he hissed. “Ex-fucking-scuse me? I think the fuck not!”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Not-” Dave took a deep breath. “I didn’t mean it like that. I meant in my room.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah well maybe you should think before you say shit like that. Because of that, I </span>
  <em>
    <span>refuse</span>
  </em>
  <span> to sleep anywhere near you, asshole.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Well too bad, because that's where you're going." Dave grabbed him by the shoulders and started leading him toward a different part of the house. The room in question was just down the hall from the one Karkat had slept in before. He peeked into the room, and made a face.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Miscellaneous swords everywhere, some creepy things in jars on the shelf, and a few stray puppets that appeared to have rather plush bottoms. Karkat guessed it was pretty average but he couldn't shrug off the feeling he felt like this was some sort of trap. Dave stepped past the puppets- he was even avoiding them. He wandered to the closet while Karkat lingered near the doorway.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>It was pretty interesting seeing Dave in what was assumed to be his ‘normal habitat’, he even seemed to be more comfortable now that he wasn’t around many people. And at this point where Karkat’s mind wasn’t running correctly, the prospect of sleeping in this room with Dave was simultaneously terrifying and exciting as hell. Terrifying because there were a lot of swords and Dave could remove him from existence at any point; exciting because fuck you he wasn’t going to be excited about this at all, it’s a lie.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Karkat was confused when Dave beckoned him over to the closet. He warily approached, seeing Dave kicking random items out of the closet. What lied inside now was a shitty beanbag chair and a shit ton of pillows. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I really fucking hope you’re not implying that’s where I’m going to sleep.” He snarled, shooting Dave a glare.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Dude, this is the only place we’ve got.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I don’t know about you but the couch in the living room seems really fucking nice compared to this bullshit.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“John’s sleeping there tonight.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Karkat wondered why John was even staying here, but asked the next best thing.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“What about where I slept the last time? In Dirk’s room?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“It would be weird for John to sleep in there.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Karkat’s expression shifted to a half-scowl. “And it’s not weird for me to sleep in here?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Not unless you make it weird, my guy.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“How about you take the closet, and I sleep in your bed? Oh, unless you don’t want to go through the experience of coming out of the closet.” A pretty light stab at Dave, because this guy seemed to be radiating closet energy.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Bro, statements like that are totally lame and unfunny.” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“You know what’s also lame and unfunny? Making me sleep in the closet.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Sorry dude, nothin I can do about it. Plus, it’s probably a better place for you to sleep. There won’t be any people bothering you if you’re in there. It’s the safest shit, there ain’t nothin safer than that, you’ll be as secure as the fuckin white house.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Do you ever shut up?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Not really.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Ugh! Whatever. I’m going to go get dressed, I’m soaked.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He stared as Dave raised an eyebrow and didn’t comment.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I don’t know what the hell you’re thinking about but I’m assuming it’s equally as annoying as everything else you say. I forgot where the bathroom is.” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Karkat’s memory of the last time he was here was very hazy; the most he could remember was Dirk’s room, the interior of the bathroom, and the katana that was dangerously close to his throat at one point. His memory of the current time was still being created, but he was definitely certain that his clothes were still uncomfortably damp and that wasn’t the kind of thing he was into. Dave pointed him in the direction of the bathroom, and he walked down the hallway. The light was dim. As soon as he was alone in the hallway he found himself frozen in place. He had just been told where to go, and suddenly he didn’t remember anymore. As soon as he was faced with a mostly-unfamiliar hallway he was entirely incapable of locating where he needed to go.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>At least, until he heard the sound of movement somewhere nearby. It could have been someone approaching, or it could have just been someone in their room. He didn’t care to find out; a momentary panic caused his heart to drop and he was suddenly half-running toward the bathroom. Once inside, he locked himself in. He’d luckily grabbed his things, and rooted through the bag holding them. A pair of boxers and a t-shirt… that should work. He peeled off the clothing he was wearing - they had dried a bit, which made the cloth feel a bit stiff in some places. Weird. He bundled them up and shoved them to the bottom of the bag. Washing would have to come later.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He caught sight of himself in the mirror, wincing slightly. He looked like absolute shit. Dark bags under his eyes. Had the red tint gotten more evident already? It felt like the red coloring to his irises was chasing him into adulthood. Of course it was. He was an adult now, how hard was that to grasp? Very hard. His mental issues seemed to root him in his teenage years and his past never stopped dragging him back.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He even looked kind of pale, however possible.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Sighing, Karkat ran a hand through his hair to try and straighten it a little. It was always messy, but there was a line he had to draw somewhere. He rested a hand on the counter, the cold surface pulling him more into reality.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Maybe he could get colored contacts. Or he could get some shades and go around pretending to be an arrogant cool kid. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Hey, look at me, I don’t give a shit about anything and I’m cocky because I’m so goddamn hot.</span>
  </em>
  <span> Attractive people are so infuriating. Or at least, specifically this attractive person.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Nonetheless, soon he wouldn’t even be able to hide the fact he was a mutant. It would literally be known just by looking at his eyes. For now he could be passable as a burgundy, since the shade was darker than it inevitably would end up as.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>But, oh well. He’d have to deal with it eventually. He grabbed at his shirt and slipped it on. The piece of clothing already seemed to have picked up a few of the scents of the house, if only faintly. Next came the boxers. He mentally cursed himself because the only pants he’d actually grabbed certainly weren’t pajama material, and unfortunately he was unwilling to walk around in only boxers. Normally it would be fine, well it </span>
  <em>
    <span>would</span>
  </em>
  <span> be fine if he was around his friends. He clearly had a front to put up while here, and he sure as hell would not be found wearing his crab-patterned boxers. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Crustacean pantaloons donned, he pulled his shirt down to try and cover a bit more. It… didn't work too well, and he huffed. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He stepped closer to the door. Hand grasping the knob, he turned it and peeked out into the hallway. He awkwardly locked eyes with the passing John. Fuck. He quickly reeled and closed the door. At least it was John, and not anyone else. Karkat didn't really understand why John was here now if ever. But he wouldn't question it. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>No, you know what? He didn’t have shit to prove to these people. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>… okay maybe he did. He grabbed a pair of jeans from his bag and put those on. He’d rather sleep in those than ask for help. He walked out of the bathroom and went back into Dave’s room. The coolkid Strider was nowhere to be found, and he stood in the middle of the room without a clue what he should do. An absolutely wonderful idea popped into his head. He proceeded to flop on the bed and grab his phone. A few messages to Kanaya later, and Dave walked in. Dave approached to stand next to the bed and stare down at Karkat.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Dude. Get the fuck off of my bed.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Karkat looked at him with a smug grin. “What’s that stupid human saying? Finders keepers?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Bro that shit only applies to lost items and shit, it does not count for beds.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Okay then, ‘move your feet and lose your seat’.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“That only applies to things that aren’t beds now just fucking get off-” Dave reached down to try and grab Karkat’s arm, but Karkat was prepared and swatted away his hand like a little bitchy cat.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He hissed and when Dave reached for him again, grabbed the other’s wrist. “No! Fuck you! This is my shit now-” He lightly kicked at Dave to ward him off. “Fuck offffff!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Without responding, Dave finally managed to drag Karkat off the bed. Karkat lightly pushed him, not expecting to get much leverage; the human lost his balance, and ended up falling- only to drag Karkat with him.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>And this is how Karkat found himself in an extremely awkward position on top of the Strider himself. Luckily no swords had been landed on, but Dave was rubbing the back of his head with his shades slightly askew. Karkat took this as a positive opportunity and grinned, planting his hands on Dave’s shoulders and shifting his position to better pin the other to the ground.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“How does it feel now? If you let me sleep in the bed I’ll get off-”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Wow, Vantas, is it that easy to get you off?” That voice certainly wasn’t Dave, and Karkat turned his head to see Dirk in the hallway. “This seems pretty gay, dudes.” There was a short flash of light, and he realized Dirk had taken a picture.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The words pieced together with the situation itself and suddenly Karkat found himself dying internally. Every internal fiber of his being was now dropping to the center of the fucking planet and he could even </span>
  <em>
    <span>feel</span>
  </em>
  <span> his face burning up with heat. He was very suddenly shoved off of Dave, who looked flustered as well. Or, as flustered as a facially emotionless stoic coolkid could.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Thank god Dave did something, because Karkat probably would have been frozen there until he died of embarrassment.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Dirk I’m not fucking gay we’ve been over this-” Dave huffed and crossed his arms. His head turned toward Karkat.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Karkat saw his reflection in those dumbass shades and suddenly had the feeling he was just talking to himself. He wished Dave would take those off.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Just sleep on the damn bed I don’t give a shit anymore.” Came the sigh of reluctance.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Karkat took no time at all and quickly crawled his way from the floor onto the bed, grinning and kicking back. “Victory.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“You’re being real chill for someone who just had a breakup with the guy who just called you gay.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Ah fuck. Well, the feeling of victory could not be stopped by some minor suspicion.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“In the face of adversity, the victory of being able to sleep on an actual fucking bed is the one relief that rids one of their darkest anxieties.” Karkat said, spewing some random bullshit in the hope that would distract Dave.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Psh. Yeah, whatever dude.” Dave set upon kicking some things out of the way so he could set up a place to sleep on the floor. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“What, take my closet joke to heart?” Karkat taunted.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“No, but if you didn’t want to sleep in there why the fuck would I? That shits mad wack, yo.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I understood almost none of that last part, but whatever. I guess you have a point.” He wasn’t in the mood to get into a stupid argument, which that would have almost certainly turned into. He watched Dave walk over to the light switch, and then they were suddenly both plunged into darkness. His eyes luckily adjusted fast enough. One point for the troll race. He saw Dave collapse onto his makeshift bed in the middle of the floor.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He felt himself about to open up his mouth and say ‘good night’, but clamped his jaw shut. Again his face felt like it was burning, but at least Dave couldn’t see it.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Why it would be worse if Dave saw, he had no idea, but it wasn’t like he could lie anyways.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He stared up at the ceiling, there was a poster of what he could barely make out was Obama on it. He clearly hadn’t noticed that before, and had to stop himself from scoffing in minor disgust. He rolled over and faced the wall, closing his eyes and letting his mind wander.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It seemed they circled right back around to every single worrying thing that had happened recently. The situation with Kanaya was probably fine, but now he had to worry about whomever had access to his dorm and could put a note in there.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The thought was chilling to his core. Soon he was rolling over and staring up again, but avoiding looking at Obama. How long had that person had access to his room? Why did the notes start now? ...had they been in there when he was sleeping at any point? What the hell.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Karkat reached his hands up and pressed them over his eyes, claws lightly but firmly pressing to his forehead. The small amount of pain grounded him slightly.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He did, however, start to get the feeling he wouldn’t be able to sleep tonight.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Homosexual Happenings</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Karkat deals with a whole lot. Kanaya's there, and Dave has no idea what's going on but the only way he knows how to cheer people up is via fights to the death.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Hey! It's like midnight and I'm posting this so if there's any errors they're gonna go unnoticed.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>It was the dawn of the who-the-fuck-even-knows day and Karkat was going to go absolutely feral. These dumbass notes were starting to not only get creepy, but annoying. It got to the point that every single piece of paper he got handed, he had the urge to rip to shreds. Upon John trying to get him to hold a shopping list for a moment, he managed to inconvenience John and confuse everyone surrounding them.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He was getting to the point where he didn’t even want to go into his own room, but he was so against wasting other people’s time that he isolated himself in there anyways. The notes always came when he wasn’t there, but they could come in even the shortest of visits away. He could go down the hall for some reason, and come back within seconds and there would be one there. He didn’t even understand how they got there. It wasn’t making sense. Was he hallucinating? Of course not. If he was hallucinating that would be better - but no, it was actually happening, and people could even witness it. He knew that Dave was somewhat aware of what was happening, but clearly didn’t have a clue what it was specifically. At that, he was pretty sure </span>
  <em>
    <span>everyone</span>
  </em>
  <span> had some clue that something was going on.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>And now he was sitting outside his dorm, on the floor and leaned against the wall. His arms wrapped around his knees as he was trying to get a little more calm. He’d been sad there for a few minutes already, and thankfully anyone that passed by didn’t question it much. He didn’t even want to go inside his room, because he was pretty sure there’d be another note there. He didn’t think he could deal with that.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The saviour of him now was his phone beeping, signalling that he had a message. He opened it up, and the message made his heart practically stop.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>tentacleTherapist has messaged carcinoGeneticist</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>TT: Kanaya has decided to pay a visit. I recommend you get here soon.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Shit. Karkat was confused as to why Kanaya was there, but the news had him standing up quickly. Within minutes he was scurrying out to his motorcycle with keys and necessary items in hand. Another ten or so minutes, and he was approaching the Strider household. He saw a sleek car parked nearby, and could guess it was Kanaya. Seems she was pretty well off by now. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Karkat hopped off his bike after parking it and headed inside. Almost instantly, he was barraged by a jadeblood concernedly checking him over for anything that might have been off. Once she seemed satisfied, Kanaya dragged him into a hug. “D-Damn, Kanaya, I’m fine-” His mumble was muffled by her shoulder. After a few moments of lung squeezing pressure, he was released.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Kanaya took a step back and crossed her arms. Somehow, as always, she seemed so poised despite exuding an air of barely repressed fury. She stared at Karkat, causing him to feel the need to squirm. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>His saving grace was Rose appearing in the hallway and beckoning Kanaya to the kitchen. Karkat followed behind her, sticking close to his friend cheerfully. Or, he was feeling cheerful, until he was met with Dave standing in the kitchen and appearing to stare directly at him. Karkat’s response to this was to stand in place and glare back as he was filled with a mixture of fear, anger, and utter embarrassment. Heat was rising to his face at the sudden attention and he tried to shove that down to the bottommost pits of hell.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Reigning in everything he was fighting against, Karkat stalked in behind Dave and flipped him off. Middle finger brandished for the entire kitchen to see - to be directed at Dave. Karkat stalked across the room to stand next to Kanaya, who was at the kitchen counter. He could feel Dave’s gaze burning into him, but could give less of a shit. The fucker wanted him to admit to shit, but he was going to resist as much as possible. He refused to crack even under this shitty pressure.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>But did he exactly dislike knowing that Dave was staring at him? Even if the intention was not quite desirable. Maybe if he just thought of it in another way-</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Wait no. Fuck that. There’s no goddamn way he was going to be caught even thinking about anyone in that way, now or ever. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Then again, what else am I supposed to think about? My stalker? These motherfuckers can practically read my mind, but at this point I don’t know what I’d rather them think or know.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He would have groaned, but now he realized he had been missing out on a part of the conversation happening.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“-he’s been with Dirk up until recently.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh, really? Well, Karkat, I did not imagine you would get with anyone.” Kanaya was saying, and Karkat suddenly wished he hadn’t started listening.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Ugh!” He gave a tiny growl, having to put on the facade on top of the facade. “I’m never going to fucking get with anyone again. Relationships are shit.” While the reaction was a little forced, the words rang somewhat true. After all, his prior relationship attempts had only gone down the drain. He didn’t even know if what happened with Terezi applied, but he felt like he had at least a relationship with most of his favored friends that had devolved into a heap of garbage fire.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Are you sure? I remember how you used to-”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“We don’t mention that, Kanaya. That was a long time ago. When I was a little fuckfaced gremlin with a romance complex.” He grumbled. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I don’t believe you would have just tossed away the tens of romance movies you took with you.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Obviously I took as many as I could carry to pawn them off.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He caught a glance of Rose, who was staring at them both with an expression of curiosity and calculation. He could feel her analytical gaze boring into his soul and he hated it. However, he refrained from flipping her off as well.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>For some reason this whole family had the soul-seeing stare. Now he knew for a fact he had two of these similar gazes upon him.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Then why does your room still have some of them in there?” Dave spoke up now.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Karkat turned his gaze to fix upon the other male, “How the fuck do you even know that?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Well I was in your room at least once, so. That was surely enough time to see.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Well, fuck you.” He defaulted to his normal response. “I don’t recall if that had been a point that you were actually invited in. I don’t even remember you being actually in there?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Dude you had them in a pile I could see from the window.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Which, again, you shouldn’t have been able to see, because I did not want you at my window. You could have fucking knocked. At the door. Like something that isn’t a cryptid.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>While the argument had launched into existence, Karkat moved from where he was at and closer to Dave, hoping that would be decently intimidating. Kanaya proceeded to get into a separate conversation with Rose.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Karkat, however, didn’t give a shit what they were talking about quite now. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Man, you’re just mad because I have the wicked skills of a ninja, and you never even saw me coming.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Fuck ninjas! You can’t just sneak up on someone’s fucking window!”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Are you sure you want to fuck the ninjas, Karkat?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“What???” Karkat was startled by the random question, not understanding where that came from.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Wow, I’m starting to think maybe your mind is dirtier than mine.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He simply responded with more confusion, though his face heated up with embarrassment nonetheless. He took this moment to note that he was within a foot from Dave. He could almost certainly reach out and touch him from here. He could also see details that he hadn’t seen before - Dave had a few freckles. He had the temptation to step closer, as he swore he could slightly see the outlines of Dave’s eyes from here.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He realized he had caused a moment of silence between both of them, and everyone was staring at him. He crossed his arms and took a step back, his shoulders coming up as he took up a defensive stance.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What the fuck are you all staring at me for?” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The moment of staring was gone moments later, Rose exiting the kitchen with slightly exaggerated motions.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Dave lifted his arm as if to check his watch - there was no watch on his wrist - and then shrugged. “Guess that’s my cue to go. Buh-bye.” He gave a tiny wave of his hand and left the kitchen.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Karkat was left with Kanaya in the room, and relaxed. He was much more comfortable around Kanaya than everyone else here.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“So, are you certain that you are okay, Karkat? You look tired.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I always look tired, Kanaya.” He replied to the question, avoiding looking her in the eyes. He debated about telling her, but he knew the kitchen wasn’t the best place to do that. Plus he wasn’t sure what she might tell Rose. He was pretty sure she wouldn’t, but he had no idea of how to quantify how much she might have changed in the time he hadn’t seen her.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“You will have to talk to me eventually, Karkat.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He glanced anxiously toward the door, and looked back at Kanaya. “I don’t want the others to hear.” He spoke uneasily.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Almost instantly she crossed to the door, closed it, and flipped the latch that held it closed. Well, now he technically had no excuse. She slowly walked back over with her arms crossed and fixing a burning gaze upon him.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Upon making sure he didn’t hear or see anyone through the cloudy glass panel in the door, he sighed and leaned back against the counter with his arms crossed over his chest as well. He tried to think of where to start. Well, first things first. “I’m not really dating Dirk. Or I wasn’t, not really. He kind of convinced me to be his fake date?” The end of that sentence was raised in a questioning manner, as if he wasn't sure of it himself. He wanted to say he was tricked, but that's not really how it was. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He wondered if he should tell Kanaya about the notes. He was entirely reluctant to do so, mostly because he was sure it was just paranoia. Some kid playing a prank, playing the long game just to torment him. And even if it wasn't just a prank, he wouldn't give whoever it was the satisfaction of him admitting he was scared. His stubbornness wouldn't allow that. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Kanaya was visibly pondering the matter, not speaking for a few seconds. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I wish I could say that doesn't make sense, but I suppose it does." </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She said, sighing. "Is there anything else I need to know?"</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Karkat shook his head. "No, everything's fine. Please don't tell Rose or anyone else. At least not until Dirk and I are ready to say." He half-pleaded. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"I cannot make any promises, but I will try to refrain from speaking your secret." </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Thank you so much, Kanaya." He sighed with relief. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Seeming satisfied, Kanaya dismissed herself from the kitchen and wandered out. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Karkat was feeling glad to at least get something off his chest. Now he just had to deal with… well, just about everything else. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
<p>
  <span>_________</span>
</p>
<p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Another while later, and Karkat wasn't sure how to feel. He had been stuck with Dave for the last few days, and while that wasn't much of an issue, it tended to get annoying. Always having someone staring and analysing him was exhausting, mostly. But now Karkat had basically been told to get ready and hop in the car, surprise road trip time.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He hated surprises with a passion. Every time someone said ‘I have a surprise for you’ he went absolutely livid. It also didn’t help that the kind of surprises he was getting near constantly now were very not good.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He tapped the armrest on the door, the plastic quietly creaking as he shifted to lean his weight into the armrest. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“This is a load of bullshit. If it’s something dumb, you’re going to have hell to pay, Strider.” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah yeah, I know.” Dave turned the steering wheel slowly as they made the way down the road. “The whole surprise thing. Don’t worry, though. This’ll help you feel better.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh boy, I’m so fucking excited to find out what sorts of shitty surprises you have for me! Really, I’m on the edge of my seat, Dave.” He said with overflowing sarcasm. “You’re at least gonna get me something to eat as compensation for my wasted time, right?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah, yeah. I wouldn’t leave a bro to starve. But… we’ll get it afterward. Might not wanna do this on a full stomach.” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Wow, that makes me so much more excited about this. Not at all worried. I’m not significantly more concerned than I was before, no way.” He hissed, leaning away from the arm rest and instead crossing his arms across his chest.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He eyed the red light they had to stop at for a few moments.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Dude, it’ll be fine.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah you keep saying that but not explaining and it’s making me kind of freak the fuck out!”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Okay, fine. I noticed you seemed a little on edge, particularly toward me, so I decided I’d let you fuck around with a sword.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“That does not make me feel any goddamn better.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s more fun when you actually are holding a blade. I convinced the guy at a training place to let me use his room, since my backyard isn’t the best place to learn this shit at…”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Karkat peered out the windshield as they were starting to park in front of a building. The front sign was in a lettering he couldn’t read very well, but his attention was on the few cartoonish decals pasted to the front windows, mostly depicting different kinds of weapons.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“So is this why you’ve been stalking me the last few days? To plot my demise via sword?” He looked at Dave.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I wasn’t stalking you, I was hanging out. It’s not stalking if I’m not at a distance.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I don’t remember inviting you to come with me, in those situations.” He fretfully remembered the awkwardness of having Dave wait in the waiting room as he was in his therapist appointment. Therapy was supposed to make him less nervous, which was counteracted by having someone waiting for him. An hour of his time gone to waste, having paid little attention to his therapist.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“At least here you get to whack me with a piece of wood, eh?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I don’t give a shit about your wood, Strider.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Mhm.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He watched as Dave got out and circled around to his door, which interjected within him a bit of an odd feeling. It wasn’t a particularly negative feeling, either. He swung a leg out as the door was opened for him, and got out. He almost fell, but caught onto Dave’s arm before he went collapsing onto the concrete. As soon as he was able to stand on his own, he lightly swatted Dave’s hand away and brushed off his sleeves even though there was nothing there.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“You’re welcome.” Dave muttered, then closed the car door as Karkat moved out of the way. He led the smaller troll toward the front door.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Karkat pushed his way past, ambling inside at a calm pace. The first room felt like any normal lobby area. He kept at a constant two feet away from Dave as he followed him. The two of them moved into the back rooms, none of the people they passed seeming to notice them.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He watched Dave slide a flimsy door open, revealing a spacious room with a light-colored hardwood floor. There were a few dummies in the corner that looked like a giant version of an artist’s wooden pose doll. He wasn’t sure what the latter thing was supposed to be called; he eyed them and looked toward Dave, who was crossing the room to approach the only other visible thing within the room - a weapon rack. There were only two things there, wooden copies of the kind of swords he’d seen decorating the Strider household. Dave grabbed one and tossed it to Karkat, who reacted quickly to catch it.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Unfortunately his quick reaction wasn’t accurate enough, as the weapon ended up clattering to the floor and he held his hand, pained. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Already off to a great start, I see.” Dave grabbed the other one and approached Karkat, the wooden floor creaking under his feet.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The rest of the room was well-enough lit, two windows on the far side of the room and gave a decent view of the street, however it was screened with a dark material. They were unlikely to be seen from anyone outside. Good. Karkat didn’t have to worry about an audience.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Aren’t we supposed to wear protective clothing?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“You see, we could… but not this time.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Why?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Dunno, I just didn’t bring any or think of it.” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“That’s comforting.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Yep. Alright, now pick it up and show me how you hold a sword. Gotta tell what I’m gonna have to teach you.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Karkat grumbled and bent down to pick up the wooden sword. It had a bit more weight than he was expecting, but he gripped the handle and hefted it in his hand for a second. “Does the way you hold it really matter when all you’re gonna do is swing it at the opponent?” He tried to swing it around a tiny bit but realized quickly this was going to be a two-handed job. Too heavy to wield with one hand effectively.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“It does. Your technique has a major effect on the precision of your blows.” Dave edged a bit closer and demonstrated his hold on his own. “Put your hands in this position.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Karkat eyed the way Dave was holding the handle and adjusted his own grip, copying it as accurately as he could.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Okay, good, now you need to adjust your foot positioning.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Karkat followed along with a few more instructions, focusing hard on trying to get everything perfect. However, it was harder to focus when hands were touching his own to guide him to the correct positioning. Only a few minutes later, he was completely distracted. Instead of focusing on the weapon in his hands, he was only aware of Dave being entirely close to him. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He growled and relaxed his positioning, sword going limp with his arm at his side.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Alright. How about we actually start whacking each other. I’m bored.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He wouldn’t be able to focus on weird shit like that when he was busy trying to smack someone with a wooden sword.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Fine, fine. I’ll go easy on you.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Bitch, if you go easy on me I’m going to ditch you here with your dumb shitty swords.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Okay, fine.” Dave took a few steps so he stood a few feet in front of Karkat, facing him with sword at the ready. “Ready in three… two…” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“ONE!” Karkat hissed and lunged forward, sweeping the wooden blade sideways. Almost instantly Dave suddenly was on his other side. Instead of letting himself get surprised, he continued the motion and managed to hit the human in the side with the fake blade. That was what surprised him. He was genuinely worried he had hurt Dave, so he paused to ask, </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Are you o-” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He choked on his words when suddenly a swipe of a weapon came for his head and he jumped backward and ducked to avoid it. “Oh fuck you!” He growled, then had to step back several more times to dodge more potential blows. He used his sword to sweep upward and caught Dave’s, knocking him off another swipe. He used this time to lunge forward, but Dave’s locked against his own. A cliche sword fight scene was playing right before him, and he wasn’t gonna be the one to lose. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Or at least, that’s what he would have liked to think. His strength faltered for a solid moment, and suddenly he was weaponless and backed up against the wall with a wooden blade to his throat. And God himself help him if that actually was a tingle of enjoyment he could feel in this situation.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Fuck you, Dave.” Karkat muttered, a hand moving to lightly push the sword away. However, his hand was caught and pinned to the wall next to him, the sword no longer at his throat. He half-glared at the human and huffed. “Fuck off, dude.” He noted the other was awfully close at the moment, and once again his thoughts intruded on him: telling him to close the gap, or even steal those dumbass shades that forced him to stare into his own reflection.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"So you surrender yet?" </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Don't make me kick you in the dick. Get off of me you insufferable prick." </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Dave huffed and released him, taking a few steps back. Karkat was allowed to retrieve his sword, and the next round started similarly. The main difference was that the two swords collided more often. This round ended with his sword out of his hands and an arm around his neck, Dave behind him. As if the headlock wasn't bad enough, he had another body pressed to his back. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Surrender?" Dave asked again, voice taunting. Karkat put his hands on the arm locked around his neck and tried to pull them off. Once more he was released. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The third and final round was a little more intense. Karkat lasted a solid thirty seconds longer than he had prior, and at the end he managed to disarm Dave. The wooden sword clattered to the ground, the sound breaking past their collective heavy breathing. Karkat felt his muscles burning as well as overall exhaustion coming along. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Damn. Good job. I guess that's probably a good place to wrap it up, then?" Dave suggested, taking in Karkat's fatigued appearance. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Karkat reluctantly nodded and slotted his wooden weapon into the rack.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He followed Dave back out to the car, not noticing a whole lot on his way back. A few more people seemed to be milling around in the lobby, however, and he was entirely unsure why. Nothing became anymore apparent as to why even as he approached the front seat door of the vehicle. Still so, Karkat opened the door and slumped into the seat, slamming the door behind him. He could still feel his heart slightly racing from the short sparring session. It was also almost like there was an imprint of Dave’s arm around his neck, still. That jackass was getting too much influence over him and he hated it.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He took his phone from his pocket and ignored Dave as he got in the vehicle as well.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Browsing through new messages, he spotted a message from Dirk.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
<p>
  <span>TT: Hey.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>CG: WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU WANT.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>CG: NO OFFENSE BUT I CAN ONLY DEAL WITH ONE OF YOU SHITTY STRIDER ASSHOLES AT ONE TIME.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>TT: Chill. I’m just gonna say that we should tell them.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>CG: ABOUT WHAT.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>TT: You know what.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>CG: UGH.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>TT: There’s not that much to worry about, you know.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>TT: My family may be a bit odd but they won’t kill you if they find out you were lying.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>TT: Plus it’ll be pretty obvious that I was the one that set you up.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>CG: AND AT WHAT POINT DO YOU THINK WE *SHOULD* TELL THEM?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>TT: I’ll tell you when I find that out.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>CG: ACTUALLY, YOU KNOW WHAT?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>CG: FUCK IT.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Karkat pressed the power button on his phone and looked over at Dave. “You, change of plans. We’re taking the drive-through.” He said, tapping the dashboard with a claw. “I don’t give a shit where we go for food, we’re heading to your house.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“What? I mean, okay, but… oh well, whatever.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The car lurched into movement and Karkat had to mentally prepare himself for the coming situation. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The trip back felt like it was taking forever. As soon as Karkat was handed a bag of food, he was quickly scarfing down the fries he had gotten. The rest could wait, as now he had something in his stomach at least. While he was focusing on that, the ride seemed to flow by a little faster.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He was feeling a vast mixture of emotions once Dave finally pulled into the road that his house was on.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>It took Karkat less time to get to the front door than Dave, and he promptly walked in without looking at the other. He made his way to the kitchen, bag of food in hand, and set it on the counter. His hands went about busying by way of finding something to drink. He found a bottle in the freezer of liquid that smelled awful, and poured himself some into a shot glass. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Soon enough he was downing it, putting the glass and bottle away, and then starting to work through his food. Meanwhile, Dave was lingering in the doorway and watching him carefully. Karkat knew less about what his plan was than he knew about what Dave was thinking right now. Now doubt thinking, </span>
  <em>
    <span>christ, he's finally gone off the deep end</span>
  </em>
  <span>. It wouldn't be entirely inaccurate, anyways. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Karkat tore through his food at record speed. He absolutely knew that he was going to regret this decision later on. But, he didn't care now. And that was what really mattered. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The attention was grabbed by Roxy in particular. Karkat peered past, but he could only see Rose in the living room. So, Dirk and John weren't there. Well, he was going to say this solo but it became apparent that anxiety levels were skyrocketing. The next few moments were spent downing another shot after getting the stuff back out. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Now a minute later, it seemed that Rose had joined their merry little party. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Alright motherfuckers are we all here? Got your attention? Good, cuz I'm not fucking waiting." </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He glared at all of them. "Basically-" </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He was interrupted by Dave, who came to steal the bottle of vile liquid from the troll. "Should you even be drinking this-?" </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Karkat clamped a hand over his mouth. "Shut the fuck up." He paused, silence stretching through the room. After an almost awkward amount of quiet, "I'm </span>
  <em>
    <span>talking</span>
  </em>
  <span>."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>More silence. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Anyways, I fucking lied! Yep, who would have thought. Dirk hired me as his fake boyfriend because reasons." Karkat looked across the faces of those around him. They didn't seem as surprised as he had expected. "And now that shitty detail is revealed, I'll make my leave-" </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He headed for the door, only to be grabbed by Roxy and dragged into what was half of a hug and half him being put in a headlock. "RELEASE ME, HEATHEN-" </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He wasn't released, nor was Roxy going to accept the insult of heathen. "Do you think we didn't know this shit? Okay I kind of didn't but I knew something was fucky."</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"It was pretty obvious something was up. Granted, I didn't quite realize it until our… er, Dirk's incident." Rose was speaking, and Karkat was accepting the light pats he was getting on the top of his head as Roxy did so and also kept him in her grasp. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He was mostly surprised that he wasn't being instantly kicked out. Furthermore, he was shocked that this fact made him feel so much better. Had he really grown attached to this group so easily? Felt like he was going soft. "Yeah well fuck you too, then. I was threatened." </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"That doesn't surprise me very much, it being Dirk and all."  Rose said.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Yeah yeah." Karkat finally managed to squirm out of Roxys arms - only to run face first into Dave's chest. He felt hands clasp his shoulders and looked up at Dave, glaring as his vision started swimming. Maybe drinking at this point in time had been a bad idea. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Get your hands off me before I gnaw them to stubs." </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>While the threat hadn't been very threatening, Dave released him anyways. Karkat went to lightly smack the human, only to have his hand easily caught. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Fuck you." Karkat muttered and stepped away, freeing his hand. "I'm going to take over your room as payment for all the pain you've put me through today." He hissed, then turned to bolt out of the kitchen, leaving Roxy giggling and Rose huffing. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He reached Dave's room quickly and breathlessly. It turns out short sprints are not a thing he's used to. As soon as he was in the room, he shut the door and sat in front of it. There came a slight smack of a palm against the door that signalled Dave was there. The doorknob jiggled and Karkat pushed with all of his might to keep it closed. It was harder than he thought it would be, but luckily they both seemed to be pretty matched. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Dude this is so uncool of you. I can't believe you've done this." Dave's voice came muffled through the door. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"This is my room now. I live here. Get away from my room you blanched nooksniffer." Karkat said, then suddenly was pushed back as the door gave a full strength shove. Now he was on his ass on the floor, glaring up at those reflective shades. "Oh god fucking damn it."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He groaned and turned to crawl onto the equivalent of the bed he had made for himself on the floor. He still wasn’t allowed to sleep in Dirk’s room, but he had stolen the mattress on the floor to put in Dave’s room corner instead. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Of course, instead of just resting in the corner like a normal person, Karkat had stolen several chairs, pins, and sheets to make himself somewhat of a blanket fort. He had a view of Dave’s bed through a crack in the draped sheets, just in case. By now he was pretty sure he didn’t have anything to worry about, but he still took his precautions. He had to make sure nothing was gonna creep up on him in the middle of the night! Of course the perfect view of Dave’s bed wasn’t for any other reason. No, that would be creepy.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And now, Karkat was resting on his bed, pulling the sheet aside to smirk at Dave, who now sat on his own bed.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Sup bitch boy.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m really offended by that. See, I’m crying.” Dave wiped away a nonexistent tear and a dramatic sigh. “So you weren’t actually with my brother, that’s wild.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah, and what’s it to you? Sorry, I’m not really into any new relationships right now.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Pfft? No, I’m not gay, dude. Especially not into alien dudes, either.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Karkat rolled his eyes and ignored the tiny pang that jabbed him at that. “Of course you aren’t. Another reason humans are the inferior species.” He rolled over to lay on his back and look at his ceiling of sheets. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah but at least we have Obama.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Every time you bring that guy up, I give less of a shit about him. Or rather, I’m more infuriated by the name in general.” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Nah dude, Obama is the best. He’s awesome.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“You keep saying that, yet I know absolutely nothing about him.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“He’s a magnificent man and that’s all you need to know about him. Obama is the current day jesus. He blesses our land like a prophet to a flock of wild gophers.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Where the fuck did gophers come from? I’m so fucking confused.” Karkat shouldn’t have gulped down all those drinks. Whenever he tried to think of anything, it just eluded him. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The question wasn’t answered, but Dave did say something.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“You doin’ okay?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I feel like I just went through a breakup.” Karkat replied, putting an arm over his forehead with the other resting on his stomach. “But I didn’t.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Can’t say I’ve ever been in your situation, but that does sound like it sucks.” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Doesn’t suck as much as you do, bitch.” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I already told you, I’m not gay.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Mmmhmmm.” Karkat hummed and closed his eyes, not tired yet but happy to be cast into a peaceful darkness.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Anyways, you mentioned living here now. Any chance you were serious about that? Kanaya mentioned it when she was here.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Karkat froze, and blinked his eyes open. He turned his head to look at Dave. Had he sensed a bit of a hopeful tone in the human’s voice, or was he just imagining things?</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"I mean…" he shifted on the mattress, rolling onto his side to once again peer at Dave, who swam in the far point of his vision. "Maybe? I thought since I… uh, well, lied, that you would be mad at me."</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Well, I think normally we would be… but considering you've rooted into our family faster than Jeff when his ass is on fire, I think we have an exception."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>That was a comforting thought. Dave's words sunk into Karkat's think pan and he kind of just mulled them over for a few minutes. This meant they actually… what, liked him? That thought was almost as impossible as the lack of reaction to his admitting to the lie. He also thought about Kanaya, and how they really couldn't kick him out anyways because of her. Well, here's to his safety card. She always managed to save his ass even when she wasn't trying. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Who the fuck is Jeff?” That one thing solidified in Karkat’s mind, making him confused. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“He’s friends with Joe.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Wh-” Karkat shook his head and put a hand over his face. He was running out of patience for this bullshit. “Whatever. I don’t care anymore.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He relaxed as the conversation slowed down and the room was silent. He rolled onto his back and let his mind go blank and tried to fall asleep. It didn’t work, but he did feel like he was drifting on an ocean of whatever.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>It was almost a shame when Dave started talking again. “You wanna play a game?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“No.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Oka-”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“What game?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Uh, well the two player ones I got are monopoly, uno… there’s not a whole lot of board games you can play with two people.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“That sounds dumb. Let’s do it. You have to come over here though, I’m not getting up.” Standing seemed like a feat that he just couldn’t succeed in at the moment. He heard the shuffling of Dave rooting through his closet and coming over to sit in the corner of his vision. With an internalized groan, Karkat sat up halfway and turned his head to watch Dave setting up the monopoly board. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The player pieces didn’t really look like any of the normal ones you’d see in a monopoly box. They looked more like miscellaneous bits of metal melted together into a spiky mess. He was almost afraid to even touch one. The quiet clicking of pieces and whatnot filled the space with a sense of tranquility, almost like a library. He could somewhat feel a cool breeze coming in from the open door, which surprisingly didn’t feel bad.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Once the pieces were set up, he watched Dave sort some starter money between themselves, and picked up his own share, sitting up straighter. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Alright, so I guess we can start now.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I wanna be the banker.” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Are you sure you can even count for shit right now?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“...touche.” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Anyways, roll.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Karkat grabbed the dice and rolled them, tossing them across the board. He moved his piece - very carefully - and waited for Dave.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Dude, you moved a few too many.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“No I didn’t you dank peanut, take your turn.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“You rolled a five and you moved seven spaces.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Shut the fuck up and keep going.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“You’re going to be banned from any and all drinks in the future.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“What? No! Fuck off.” Karkat grumbled and moved his piece to the correct spot. He watched Dave make his move, and it went back and forth for a few more rounds in relative silence.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“We should get to know each other better, you know.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Why does that sound like a euphemism?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Dude, I’m serious. You’ve been around a while and I don’t know anything about you.” Dave looked up from his cards, or at least he tilted his head upward. “Gotta know a little more about the guy who might be rooming with me for a while.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Fine. But only if I can ask questions of you, too.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Of course. You can go first.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Karkat paused for a moment, thinking of a good question. “Hmm, why do you all live here?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>It took a moment for the response to come. “Well, we’ve always really lived pretty close. So we kind of just pitched in to live in Roxy and Rose’s place, since it would cost less overall.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I see.” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“My turn. What’s up with your friends?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“What do you mean by that?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I mean, like, Kanaya’s mentioned a few other trolls, and that they know you too… but you haven’t talked about them at all.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Well, that certainly was a path of conversation he was a bit against taking. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Er, well…” He started awkwardly, taking his turn at the game and slowly sorting through his money. “I’d kind of prefer to forget some of them.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Aside from that, I don’t think I have anymore questions.” Karkat couldn’t think of any. “Wait. Uhhh, favorite food?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Can it be a favorite drink?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah, whatever.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Apple juice. Why exactly did Dirk ask you to be his fake date?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I’ll let him tell you that when he wants to. Major?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m mostly going for acting stuff. You?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m pretty sure you called it lame prior, but coding.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Ha, yeah. Lame as fuck.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Not as fucking stupid as acting.” Karkat reached the point where he could buy some property, and gladly shoved his money forward in exchange for the property card. He’d already accidentally poked himself with the player piece he’d chosen, and he hissed quietly as it happened again.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Okay fine, I guess it’s agree to disagree. Would you actually date Dirk if you could?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He stopped at that, staring at Dave for a solid moment. What was he trying to mean by that? </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I mean, maybe. He’s fuckin hot.” He admitted, shrugging and reaching for the dice. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s not your turn again.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“You skipped my turn for questions anyway, so I get to skip you for this one.” He started to pull his hand away, but suddenly Dave’s pinned his own to the board. “Hey, hands off the merchandise, fuckboy.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“You aren’t gonna skip me.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Fine! Move your hand.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“You move your hand first.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“You’re the one who trapped me in the first place! You have to move your hand first.” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Seems like a personal problem to me.” Dave pried the dice from karkat’s hand, still keeping the hand trapped.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Karkat made a grab for the dice and hissed. “Hey! You can’t have that until I’m released you musty squeakbeast.” He gave an irritated grunt as the dice were held just out of his reach, and he sat forward to try and get better leverage. This didn’t work, as Dave only leaned back. Eventually, Karkat resorted to lunging forward. His knees scattered the stuff on top of the board, but he managed to grab onto the traitor’s wrist. However, this was met with a sharp thing stabbing into his legs. “OW MY FUCKING KNEES!” he fell forward and shoved Dave down with him, glad to feel the sharp point eased. He was indeed on top of Dave, and sat up to instead basically sit on top of him, inspecting his knee.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Jegus christ that fucking hurts-”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Dave huffed and crossed his arms since he was released in Karkat’s pained panic. The dice were probably still in his hand, so Karkat went to try and pry the human’s arms out of their crossed state to get to his hand. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Nope.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Give me the fucking dice, Strider.” Karkat planted his hands on Dave’s shoulders, pressing him harder into the ground. This was the second time they were in this unfortunate position, but something made him literally not give a shit. He was straddling Dave’s midsection, and he still couldn’t get enough leverage to steal the dice back.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Nah.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“‘Nah’? Really? That’s your great fucking comeback?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“What do you expect me to say when you’re crushing my ribs.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m not even on your ribs, dumbass.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m sorry I can’t hear you over my inability to breathe.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“If you want to suffocate so badly, why don’t I just choke you?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Kinky.” Dave dramatically wheezed.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Karkat’s expression turned to one of mild disgust. “I hate you.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m not into that hate shit.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Platonically.” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Karkat grumbled and worked to get off of Dave, but ended up getting his hand stabbed by another rogue player piece. He slumped to the floor next to Dave and hissed, pressing his hand to the ‘injured’ palm. Surprisingly enough, he was actually bleeding. It wasn’t a lot, but it was enough to fill him with an uneasy feeling. He clasped his good hand around the wound in an attempt to hide it, pulling away as Dave reached over to try and examine it. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Don’t fucking touch me!” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m trying to help, dude.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I don’t need your help. It’s not bleeding that bad, anyways. I don’t need your help.” He repeated the first bit again, awkwardly scooting backward and away from him. Something stopped him from going into full panic mode, but he was still kind of freaking out. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Are you sure?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“No! Get me a fucking towel. Please.” He added the last part, desperate for the ability to hide the blood. He was so damn glad that he didn’t have much to worry about with humans. Dave probably didn’t understand how bad the whole mutant thing was, as evident in him actually getting up and going to get something to soak up the blood. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They’d all probably instantly reject him if they did know, at least. He didn’t want to have to deal with that. That might have been part of the reason he’d moved away from his old home.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Dave returned quickly with a paper towel, and before karkat could protest his hand was taken and the paper towel was pressed to his palm. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Gonna have to replace those pieces specifically for your clumsy ass.” He taunted, but Karkat didn’t feel like retorting.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He tried, though.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah, well fuck you too. I can do this myself, Dave.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“You also thought you could actually get up by yourself, but here we are.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Dave sighed and let him take over. “I’ll go get a bit of gauze.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s not that bad, I only need a bandaid or some shit.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Okay fine.” Again, Dave got up to go grab something from a different room.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Karkat maneuvered himself to crawl back into his mini blanket fort. He looked at the monopoly board and the scattered pieces. Looks like that game was over. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“You need to sleep or something.” Dave commented as he came back in and handed Karkat a bandaid.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“No! Fuck you. We still need to play this dumb game. I need to kick your ass at monopoly.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“You were losing.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“You can’t tell that until we get farther in the game, motherfucker.” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Dave set about cleaning up the pieces. “We’ll play later, then. I’m tired.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Then we should keep the questions going.” Karkat said, settling down and watching Dave work.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Fine, shoot.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Hmm… if you could teleport anywhere and back once, where would you go?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Probably a different planet, I guess.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Other planet’s aren’t as cool as they’re thought to be.” Karkat sighed.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Then tell me what your planet was like.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Karkat paused. He tried to gather whatever memories he had from Alternia. Most of the stuff he could remember was the more technical stuff, like whatever he learned in school. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Well… a lot different, but not at all in some aspects?” He started, unsure where he was going with this.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I guess… most of the planet from what I saw was in the dark. But… sometimes I’d be able to catch the late sunsets or early sunrises… and everything was very bright at that time. Absolutely fucking terrifying, though. Whatever area that didn’t pose the danger of other trolls, was filled with animals that would do their job instead.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He couldn’t ever miss that fucking planet.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He didn’t know what else to say. “Um. Anyways. What would you say is your best trait.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Obviously being cool as fuck.” Dave said, smirking as he finished shoving things haphazardly into the box. It could hardly close by the time he was done, but he managed to do it by some miracle.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Karkat rolled his eyes and laid on his back, draping an arm over his eye. Only a tiny bit of light leaked past the barrier of his arm and intruded on his eyes.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“If everything was made of something you find tasty for a day, what would you eat?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>That was surely a random question, but Karkat was glad it wasn’t too serious.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Probably like… a toaster or something. What’s something you’ve done before that you won’t ever do again?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Putting a fork in the oven then trying to lick it.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Karkat was caught off guard by that one, and gave a bit of a laugh. “What? That’s so fucking stupid.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah, that’s why I won’t do it again.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Dumbass.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Karkat heard footsteps and then a low creak, assuming Dave went to lay on his bed. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“What’s something you think you’ll never experience?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Karkat sighed. That was a loaded question. “Uh, cannibalism?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Makes sense.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He was starting to get actually sleepy. It was hard to think of any more questions now more than before. “What would your perfect partner be like?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He knew the answer was probably going to hurt him, but he couldn’t stop from asking it.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I dunno. Never really thought about it. Probably someone who would like me despite anything bad about me.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Same.” Karkat let out a long exhale and found that he couldn’t really keep awake anymore. Slowly he drifted off somewhere in the middle of Dave’s next question.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“What would you do if-... Karkat?” Dave stared across the room at the little tent made of sheets and saw the other had stopped fidgeting as much. Assuming the troll was asleep, Dave sighed and stood up, walking to the light switch. He flicked it off, then went to crawl into his bed and tried to fall asleep as well.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Moving Day</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Karkat finally takes care of some of his shit.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>The day was what one would consider ‘gloomy’. The sky was covered in a thin layer of clouds, making the sky just seem white. It had been raining all morning, but now it finally cleared up. Just in time for his plans to take action. It was probably almost noon, and he was waiting for Dirk to show up. In his waiting period, he’d decided to take a bit of a walk to get some fresh air. It may have been raining, but he preferred that. He could have his hood up and avoid the glances of others passing without question.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He pushed the door open as he stepped inside the building once more, a rush of warm air greeting his cold-bitten face. He pushed his hood back and ran a hand through his hair. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Approaching his room door was a source of dread on any occasion now, but now he kind of grew to accept it. A tiny hope whispered inside him that this wouldn’t last for much longer. Since he was going to be essentially living with the Striders soon enough, it wasn’t any matter. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>That’s what he was trying to convince himself of at least. He approached the door and reached out to open it, the cool metal of the knob greeting his palm. His hand lingered, preparing himself for the piece of paper that inevitably awaited him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Might as well get it over with.</span>
  </em>
  <span> He thought to himself, and twisted the knob, pushing the door open. Almost instantly his gaze zeroed in on the white slip on his bed. He could feel his organs twisting around each other as he approached, forgetting to close the door behind him. He picked up the slip and unfolded it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span class="u">
    <em>
      <strong>“Hey there! Heard you were moving, I’m looking forward to a challenge~”</strong>
    </em>
  </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>His breath escaped him and he quickly caught himself from falling, sitting heavily on the side of the bed and crumpling the paper in his hand. His other hand went to cover his face, pinching the bridge of his nose with as much force as he could without injuring himself. Something painful was wriggling in his chest and he had to take deep breaths so he wouldn’t just start freaking the hell out. They couldn’t follow him, that was impossible. There would be too many people at the other household for anyone to sneak in.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He would be safe there.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>His crisis was broken by the sound of footsteps and a knock on the open door.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey, Karkat. What’s up?” That was Dirk’s voice, lingering in the doorway as Karkat gathered up his emotions and shoved them into the proverbial bin of ignorance. He looked up at Dirk, who stood outside the room with his hands in his pockets.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Well, this was Karkat’s breaking point. He finally had to admit he needed help. And so far Dirk had been one of the more trustable people Karkat had ever really met. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Instead of saying anything, Karkat just extended his hand to offer the note. After Dirk took it and had enough time to read it several times over, Karkat finally spoke.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Someone’s been leaving notes. Constantly. It’s driving me fucking insane.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>His voice sounded weak and cracked, miserable. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dirk didn’t say anything quite yet, deep in thought. His face showed this and his lips formed an ever so slight frown.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I don’t know what to do.” Karkat said, hunching his shoulders protectively and crossing his arms. “I don’t want to tell anyone else, Dirk.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“We should tell security at this place, at least. Maybe not Dave or the girls, but if it's been going this long, we need to tell someone who can do something.” Dirk said, sounding surprisingly confident with his judgement.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Karkat felt another jab internally and sighed. His eyes pricked with the threat of tears as he took a deep breath and closed his eyes. “Okay.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He had to let the situation be taken care of by someone else for once. He knew that at this rate he was just going to send himself into a downward spiral by trying to take care of it on his own. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Should we go to the office?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah.” Dirk stepped closer, and held out a hand to help Karkat up. Karkat happily took the hand, and dragged Dirk into a hug. “What.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Shut the fuck up.” Karkat growled, already embarrassed enough by this as it was. After what was probably uncomfortably too long, he released Dirk and speed walked out the door. Not going to mention what just happened. The walk was quick, Dirk immediately catching up with his long-ass legs. Then again, maybe his legs weren’t long, maybe Karkat was just short as hell. Yeah, it was definitely that, even if he wouldn’t admit it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The trip to the office wasn’t that long, but it felt like ages that they were in there. The simple explanation was them telling security there had been some concerns, and the guy they talked to said he’d go over the security footage and get back to them if he saw anything.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Karkat motioned for Dirk to go ahead back to the dorm room without him. “I have to uh… bathroom?” He said, actually that was a great idea. He found the door to the public restroom and ducked in there, walking to the sink. Needing to do something with his hands, he started washing his face. It was a good thing to ground him, and after finishing that he felt better. Things were actually being taken care of, and it was awesome. He had a sense of protection he hadn’t been able to obtain for a while - no, ever. It was amazing how when he was down, some small amount of progress was so damn relieving. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Sure, nothing was actually solved yet, but he was taking steps toward everything being better. It was amazing that just a few weeks ago he had been living a largely solitary lifestyle and now he was plunged into someone else’s family, which just so happened to house his mild-but-now-extreme crush.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>God, what was he even going to do about Dave? It was pretty obvious he was going to have to share a room with that jackass, and he couldn’t think of anything more difficult than doing that with someone he thought about passively at least half of every day. And now he was remembering a few nights ago, the cause of his still-somewhat-injured palm. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>And the fact that he had basically been on top of Dave. Shit, had he just remembered that now? Had that actually fucking happened? He rubbed at his temples and groaned, he could already feel his face heating up. Ugh. He was playing a dangerous game. Dave wasn’t even into quadrants, and even if Karkat did normal human romance with him, he wasn’t even gay. Was he bad for wanting a relationship with a straight guy, and not even trying to stop these feelings? Yeah, he was terrible. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Karkat quickly splashed his face with water again and dried off with a paper towel, then headed out of the bathroom. The soft lighting of the hallway felt brighter than the dim lights in the bathroom, but luckily it didn’t hurt his eyes. He kept his gait slow as he walked down the hallway, not wanting to get to his room too fast.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>When he did approach the door, he heard Dirk messing around with a cardboard box. He stepped inside and went to work on collecting what he hadn’t packed up yet, which wasn’t that much in all honesty. He didn’t have much to his name anyways, other than the wide collection of movies he had. Once everything was packed into the boxes, Karkat picked one up and waited for Dirk to do the same. They left the room, Karkat kicking the door closed with a foot and heading outside.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He carried the box outside and toward the parking lot. However, he didn’t see Dirk’s car- instead, he noted that Dirk was going toward a truck.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>His confusion must have been obvious, as Dirk started explaining after a glance toward him. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I borrowed my friend’s truck for the day, so we don’t have to make more than one trip.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Ah.” Karkat hummed his understanding, and carried the box he held to load into the back of the truck. Every surface was covered in a thin sheen of water droplets, but he didn’t have much worry. It wouldn’t be too long until he could take everything out again. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He turned to go back inside, clearing his mind of his anxieties. Today could be a good day, despite his tiny crisis just a few minutes ago.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Several more trips in and out later, he had almost all of his stuff carried out. His upper body was starting to hurt like hell. It was also at that time that he got a call from the office. Fuck.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He answered the phone, impatiently waiting for the news.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The news was equal parts fortunate and unfortunate. They’d spotted the person sneaking into his room in several different tapes, but they couldn’t see the face of the person.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He took caution as he relayed the information to Dirk, who seemed to be plotting something.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Dirk. Please don’t do anything.” He half begged. “I’m going to be living with you guys anyways. Whoever it is, they won’t be able to get there anyways.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dirk crossed his arms, only making it more evident that he was a whole lot more menacing than one usually may think. Karkat wondered if he actually worked out. There was no way that he just didn’t do anything to maintain that muscle mass. He had to snap out of the train of thought about how much of a twunk Dirk was, because the human was talking.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“We can’t just ignore that this is an issue. It might end up being resolved but we still can’t ignore it.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Fine. But nothing yet, please. Only if it happens at your house…”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>There was a deep sigh from Dirk, who seemed to be unhappy with this. “Fine.” He said shortly. While prior he had been leaning back against the truck, he now pushed off and started walking back inside. They grabbed the last few boxes, and soon enough Karkat was loading himself into the truck. The interior was clearly old and beat up, and as Dirk got in and started it up he was almost certain it was more of a scrap heap than a truck. Nonetheless, it seemed to actually start up and be able to take them places, because they were on the road and heading for the Striders’ house in no time. His bike had already been parked at their house the day before, so he was pretty sure he didn’t have anything else to take.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The roar of the truck’s engine lulled into the background of his mind, but it reminded him of the day he left his old home. Obviously it had taken him a few days to handle the payment and shit for his bike, but once he had taken care of that, he had been on the road and driving away faster than ever.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He could almost remember that day like it happened a few seconds ago.</span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>
  <span>________________</span>
</p><p> </p><h3>
  <em>
    <strong>Several Years Before…</strong>
  </em>
</h3><p>
  <span>Karkat stormed out of the apartment with his bag slung over his shoulder, ignoring the shout following him out the door. He was so done. He’d hinted at it before, but now he was serious. He was going to run away. He couldn’t live here anymore. He was going to leave and nothing could stop him. He had even had his bag packed for this exact situation.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He approached his shiny new motorcycle in the parking lot, swinging his leg over it and kicking the stand. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>His ‘caretaker’ threw open a window and shouted something at him, but again he ignored it. Why had he been the one to get stuck with the worst human when he landed on this dumb planet? All of his friends seemed like they had gotten matched with all of the loving, perfect families. But him? He was stuck with the xenophobic religious asshole who couldn’t care less about him as long as he didn’t so much as breathe an octave higher than normal.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Karkat fired up his bike and slowly started down the street, trying to remember the way back to Terezi’s house. The majority of them had been sent to the same town, with the exception of Feferi, Eridan, and Aradia. Gamzee was in some nearby facility to help him with anger issues, and Karkat was stuck with the rest of them. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And now he was speeding up incrementally. The roads were always quiet in this area anyways, so he didn’t have much worry about accidents. It didn’t take him long to arrive at her street, and he parked at the end of the driveway.</span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>
  <strong>carcinoGeneticist has started pestering gallowsCalibrator</strong>
</p><p>
  <span>CG: YOU’RE HOME, RIGHT?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>GC: Y3S</span>
</p><p>
  <span>GC: BUT 1’M 4 B1T BUSY &gt;:/</span>
</p><p>
  <span>CG: DOING WHAT? </span>
</p><p>
  <span>GC: VR1SK4’S H3R3</span>
</p><p>
  <span>CG: OH JEGUS. FINE. I WON’T COME IN.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>GC: W41T YOU’R3 H3R3?</span>
</p><p>
  <strong>carcinoGeneticist has ceased pestering gallowsCalibrator</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Fuck it. He didn’t need to go anywhere. He kind of wanted to stay at Terezi’s place for a while, but if Vriska was there… he didn’t want to deal with that fire full of irons. He saw movement in the windows, but didn’t pay attention. Who else could he visit that he wasn’t currently on tense terms with? Kanaya had said she was going to be out of home for part of the day, so he couldn’t go there. He could visit Nepeta, but that would be awkward. He didn’t know how to deal with her crush on him that wasn’t blatantly crushing her feelings.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Sollux? Sollux was a decent option. He was an asshole, but they understood each other enough to tolerate existing within the same space. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Karkat spotted Terezi’s door starting to open, and he booked it. The sudden speed change from stationary to FAST took his breath, but he was glad that he was distinctly away from the shout that was undoubtedly Vriska’s voice mocking him as he left.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ever since she’d basically tried to shove him into oncoming traffic one year into being on Earth, he was more than a little wary around her.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Again he stopped at a calm edge of the road, and tried messaging Sollux. There was no response. Gog, were all of his friends just incapable of dealing with him right now? He knew it was unfair to assume they’d all not be busy exactly when he needed them, but he’d guessed at least one of them would be able to deal with him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But no, apparently. He resisted the urge to toss his phone down the storm drain, and pocketed it. He started down the street again, making up his mind. He’d just leave. If he necessarily needed anything, there was a chance he’d come back for that. But for now? He was leaving. He headed into town and grabbed a few things, then started for the highway.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Soon enough he was on the road, the sound of cars around him muffled by his helmet. He zoned the noises all the way out, focusing on not getting in a wreck. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>There was a sense of freedom as he rode, feeling like a weight was off his chest. </span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>
  <span>_________</span>
</p><p> </p><h3>
  <strong>Present</strong>
</h3><p>
  <span>Karkat snapped back to reality at the sound of the door closing. He blinked, realizing they were at the house now. It felt like they had just started driving, but suddenly they were here. He sighed, thinking he must have dozed off or zoned out. He opened the door and got out, his muscles groaning as he knew he had to carry everything all over again. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He saw Dave come out to help, and put on a sneer. “Watch your twig arms, Dave, you might snap them off if you try to carry anything.” He said, roughly patting Dave’s shoulder as they passed each other.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Says the one who looks small enough to be crushed under my foot.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Karkat rolled his eyes. Most of the boxes were full of his movies and bedding, which he had a lot of. He grabbed one of the particularly heavier ones just to spite Dave, and adjusted his hold on it before heading inside.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He carried the box perfectly fine up until he got to the stairs, and had to sit down midway up the staircase, of course blocking everyone else’s way. Dave approached and stood at the bottom of the steps. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Need something?” Karkat shot Dave a grin and tapped the box he had on the step next to him. He relished in the fact he had some control over this motherfucker for once.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Dude, move. I said I could carry this shit but I can’t hold onto it for five hours.” Dave’s voice sounded a little off than normal, and Karkat, only realizing it now, was curious as to why. He couldn’t pinpoint specifically what was off about it. He supposed it sounded a bit deeper? Maybe raspier? It wasn’t drastic, but it was enough to notice something different.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Trying to ignore it, Karkat just grinned wider. “Cmon, Dave. How are you gonna face your future? Gotta be strong enough to carry your future wife and all that.” He said casually, even though talking about relationships with Dave felt like falling from a 10 foot drop onto a bed of nails.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Damn bro, that’s a good point, but I also need to be able to carry my homies. Let’s see if I can.” Dave set his box down and approached Karkat, who instantly tried to get up and escape. He managed to succeed, making his way up the steps clumsily and almost falling several times. Luckily he didn’t fall, and got to Dave’s room. He fumbled with the door then entered, closing the door behind him in a panic.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Noooo!” He half-laughed as the door was cracked open and sat in front of it, trying to prevent it from being opened. He felt an uncontrollable giggling start up that mingled with only slightly real panic. “Fuck offffff!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Lemme in I just need to carry my bro damn it.” Dave shouldered the door and flung it open as karkat scrambled toward the closet.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Nooooooooooo!” Karkat wheezed as he was grabbed, arms looping around his stomach and holding him back. He squirmed against Dave and his grip, his laughter becoming more nervous by the second. Finally he stopped struggling and just growled as loud and threatening as he could. He could feel Dave’s smirk but not see it, and his face started burning. “Let me go!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The initial panic faded and he realized his close proximity. No, this is not good. A dangerous game was being played but some part of him was all for it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Nope.” Dave moved his arm to sweep Karkat off his feet in surprisingly more ways than one. “See? Well I guess it’s not that hard of a feat since you’re small as fuck. Damn, dude. You’re really light. You should eat more.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Karkat hissed and elbowed Dave’s ribs, only partially enjoying the wince that resulted from that. “Put me the fuck down!” He could tell his face was covered in a bright red blush and didn’t want to deal with more embarrassment. Hopefully it would be construed as anger instead of what it obviously wasn’t, him being human gay. He was so close that just through this physical contact he could feel actual fucking muscles and fuck don’t think about the way that could be useful for certain things god.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It was a relief when he was finally set down and he covered his mouth with a hand, wheezing. “You’re a fucking psychopath.” He mumbled annoyedly and took several steps away. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Dude, I literally just picked you up. Can’t be real homies if you don’t try carrying each other once in a while.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I don’t care about your stupid homies or whatever the fuck, you can’t just pick me up like that!” Karkat rubbed his arm, an imprint of the feeling of Dave’s chest stuck on his skin like glue. He glared at Dave.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dave was about to say something as evident by his mouth opening to do so, but Dirk appeared in the doorway with a box in hand.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Cmon dudes. I know I’m swole but I can’t carry everything by myself.” He said, only sounding slightly annoyed.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Karkat lightly pushed Dave with a hand then started sprinting for the staircase again, laughing as he heard footsteps coming after him. This whole situation was childish as hell, and he knew he would cringe at himself for doing this later on, but he was having fun dammit. He took the stairs down two at a time, nearly tumbling down them twice in the same three seconds, and finally made it to the last home stretch- to the door he ran.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Karkat you fuck we haven’t even gotten the boxes we left on the stairs-” Dave half wheezed as he caught up to Karkat once the latter skidded to a stop next to the truck.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You can take care of them, bulgelicker, I thought you were so fucking strong.” Karkat taunted, grabbing another box from the truck. “Hurry up before I bulldoze you.” He added, turning and heading directly for Dave. The box he was holding was the only barrier between them after a few seconds, Karkat looking up to stare into Dave’s shitty shades. Dave’s hands came up to grab onto the box probably as an instinctive protective motion.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>That would have been fine, but one of the hands definitely accidentally clamped over Karkat’s own. Once more, Karkat could feel heat rising to his face. Dave’s lips quirking up into a slight smile only made the response worse, and suddenly Karkat realized he was most certainly staring at said lips way too long. His heart gave a gentle flutter.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Dude.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Don’t ‘dude’ me, bitch. Move out of my way.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m taking this box.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No the fuck you aren’t, I grabbed it first!” Karkat hissed, making a weak attempt to kick at Dave’s ankle. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Fine then you move your hand first.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I think the fuck I won’t! You need to move your hand!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah you’re a bottom so that means you have to move it first.” Dave said.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Karkat blinked and stared at him for a few moments. “What the fuck is that supposed to mean.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I meant! Your hand is on the bottom!” Dave realized what he had said, and seemed rather embarrassed all of a sudden. He removed his hands from the box and shoved them in his pockets. “Nevermind…”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Karkat shot him a vaguely disgusted expression. “Gross. What are you, some kind of homosexual?” He jabbed, then headed inside.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Following him was what sounded like Dave tried to say ‘im not gay’ and ‘I thought trolls didn’t have a concept of gay’ but it clumped together to form, “I’m not a gay troll concept.” 10/10 Dave comeback, would listen to on repeat every day until Karkat fucking dies.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Karkat resisted the urge to laugh at that, and headed back up the stairs. Similar banter followed for the next few trips, Karkat’s spirits on the rise. Once he effectively piled all of his boxes in Dave’s bedroom corner, he laid down in the middle of the floor and stared up at the ceiling. Break time.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He was laying there in peace and quiet for a few minutes before he heard rather than saw Dave come in. He closed his eyes so he didn’t see anything at all happening around him. He didn’t think he could handle it if he saw any more of that smug sexy asshole’s face. This stupid crush was getting out of hand. The temptation to make fun of Dave’s prior fuckup arose, but he refrained.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So are you gonna unpack anytime soon?” Dave was asking, his voice coming from the direction of his bed.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Karkat cracked his eyes open and lazily reached out an arm to touch one of the boxes, just short by around two feet. “Eh. Too far. You do it.” He groaned, making a show of trying very hard to reach them but upon being unable to, letting his arm flop on the ground. “Arms are just too short. You know how it is.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dave shrugged and took his opportunity to root through Karkat’s stuff. Karkat watched him open up one of the boxes. It must have been one of the ones with a lot of movies in there, because he pulled out one of the cases and looked over it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why the fuck do you have so many romcoms?” He asked, pulling out a few more. The human looked intensely confused at the inanely long title covering the front of the case. He moved to be on his knees as he went through the box.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Because they’re only the best kind of movie. Plus how else do you think I’d become the ultimate master of quadrant understanding?” Karkat grinned smugly. Of course he knew everything about quadrants. No one could ever beat him at that specific thing. He was the king of that thing.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh, yeah, and what have you managed to do with your magnificent understanding?” The tone sounded mocking, and Karkat scowled at him. As best he could from the position he was in, at least.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Gloat about being the master of quadrants, really.” He responded, voice matching Dave’s mocking tone.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So you must get allllll the bitches.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Nah. I don’t need any ‘bitches’. That’s Sollux’s job.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh? Sollux? Who is that and are you one of his bitches, then?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Karkat rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest. “Of course not. I’m no one’s bitch. I can’t use my great powers or else it will unbalance the ecosystem of relationships.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Or maybe you just have no fucking game because you’re watching romcoms while you could be out on a date.” Dave pointed out, frowning slightly. “You know they have like, dating apps nowadays right?” He took out his phone. “I mean, I’m not on any of them currently. I used to be, but got tired of it.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Mhm. Aren’t all those dating apps full of catfishes and shit?” Karkat was wary of dating apps. He wasn’t gonna say anything about people who did find real love on those things, but it just seemed kind of… fake, to him. Plus as a troll, there was bound to be people who would harass him. But it’s not like he was gonna use any of that reasoning in this scenario. He scrambled for more reasoning to not, but came up lacking.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dave shrugged, scooting over to Karkat to sit next to him. “There’s a lot less than you’d think, actually. Here, I can help you sign up for this one.” He said, reaching over to yoink Karkat’s phone from his pocket. “What’s your password?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Karkat yelped when his phone was taken, and snatched it back from Dave. He glared murderously at the human and quickly typed in his password. “You don’t get to know it.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dave raised a brow inquisitively and leaned closer to grab the phone again, but it eluded his grasp as Karkat pulled it away again. “Damn dude, you got some naughty imagery in your phone that I should know about?” Maybe not naughty imagery, but there were definitely a few doodles he’d taken pictures of that he definitely wouldn’t live down having viewed by Dave. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He directed to the app store and held the screen closer to Dave. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don’t touch. Just tell me where to go.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dave gave a vaguely annoyed noise and moved to sit closer so he could get a better view of the screen. He was close to Karkat’s shoulder, legs crossed and elbows perched on his knees. “I can’t read anything on your screen right now.” He said, and Karkat realized it was all in Alternian. Fuck. He hadn’t even noticed that. Quickly he pressed a shortcut button and changed it to english. Okay, much better. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay, that one.” He pointed at an icon that looked like a tiny flame. Soon enough the app was installing and Karkat was wondering what he was doing. He looked up at Dave, who was close enough that the details of his face were in full view. Karkat could almost get a peek at his eyes, but not quite. Karkat messed with the phone a little more, but he kept glancing up at Dave every few seconds, distracted. Why did he have to be so damn hot.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Why was everyone so fucking hot. God it was like all the people in this place were hot except for himself. He needed to find a way to compete. He could always try eyeliner. And actually caring about what he wore. At this point his life was filled with so much scowling and anger that his actual face was a lost cause. Maybe if he suddenly got super sexy then Dave would instantly fall in love with him. Damn that would be cool.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Finally the app installed and he opened it up, handing it over. “Just don’t do any weird shit with the info you put, okay?” He had to at least request that. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yup, I’ll only put what you tell me to. My fingers are fully locked and loaded to listen to whatever command you have for me.” Dave said, then seemed to catch himself in a long spiel of bullshit and stopped. “Okay so name… age.. Gender, got all the base stuff. Now there’s the bio, interests, and pictures. We should probably work on the pictures first.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Karkat scrunched up his face, not liking the fact he had to use images of himself. Everything he had ever taken was absolute garbage that he didn’t have the heart to delete. “I have no good pictures.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m sure you do, bro.” It sounded like Dave was trying to find a different app, and Karkat guessed he was going for the pictures. Karkat instantly snatched the phone back and growled menacingly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Don’t.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Damn, bro, you got something to hide from me? We’re best dudes. I mean bros. Homies don’t care about what’s on other homies’ phones.” Dave was saying, but Karkat didn’t hear most of it. He was just going through the camera roll and sending anything questionable to his email, then deleting them off his phone. There. He handed it back. “Hmhmhm.” Dave raised a brow but didn’t pay much more mind to it. “Do you need to like watch me? To make sure I’m not doing anything else?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Karkat huffed. “Ugh, fine.” He finally sat up and scooted closer, so he was sitting next to Dave. It was still hard to peer at the screen, but any closer and he would basically be sitting on Dave’s lap. And that, while tempting, was not an option. He watched Dave navigate to the box labeled ‘bio’ and frowned.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Maybe you should be the one to make the bio, then I can help you edit it so it’s not dumb as fuck.” Dave suggested, shifting so he was leaning closer. Karkat was happy with the unspoken help, and had to fight a tiny smile. He was going to get so fucked over if he kept thinking like this about Dave.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Fine. What the fuck do you even put in a bio? Especially for me, damn. ‘Will flip my shit if you beat me in mario kart, i’m obsessed with romcoms, i look like a toddler’,” He paused, straying way too close to blabbing about more issues than necessary. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Oh yes saying ‘I’m depressed’ in front of the guy I’m interested in is absolutely a good idea! Making people worry about me is so fun.</span>
  </em>
  <span> No, he’d prefer people don’t catch wind of anything happening within him ever.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Seriously. People aren’t going to want to date me unless I lie out my ass about this shit.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No no, dude. You just gotta spice it up a bit. Let’s say your qualities are… hm, ‘driven, passionate’... as for the toddler part I have no fuckin’ idea how to help you with that.” Dave was saying, typing what he said into the box. Wow, it was almost like a compliment. Except not. He was literally lying about himself to people he potentially wanted to date. He felt so shitty right now, but he didn’t really want to argue at the moment. A shocker, he always wanted to argue. Not in this case. He’d just feel more dumb than usual.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He looked over what Dave was typing, which was a little more than what he was actively saying. “Bruh do not write that-” Karkat hissed as he spotted one too many usages of the word bucket. “I will fucking end you.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What dude there’s nothing wrong with buckets they’re cleaning supplies!” Dave said, moving to hold the phone out of Karkat’s reach. Damn, long arms. Karkat couldn’t compete with long arms. But he could sure as hell try.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Whoever sees my fucking profile is gonna think I’m just looking for a fucking hookup you bastard!” Karkat was getting sick and tired of being short. Thinking quick, he ended up elbowing Dave in the chest and grabbing the phone when he reacted by hunching forward and giving a dramatic-sounding wheeze.  “Success!” The troll shouted happily and grinned, flipping Dave off. He quickly erased any mention of buckets from the textbox. It may not have been that big of a deal but he had to get nice feelings where he could. There wasn’t much dopamine to go around these days for this fucker. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He watched Dave, who seemed to just stare at him for a second after recovering from his minor pain. Karkat’s smile faded and turned to confusion. “What?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dave gave a tiny shake of his head and looked away, gesturing toward the phone. “Nothing. I guess that should be fine for your bio now, though.” He said, acting like nothing had just happened. Karkat was so confused. This fucker was more mysterious than a bag of strange but clearly leaking contents and Karkat didn’t know whether it intrigued him or infuriated him more. And he didn’t know whether the fact that was up in the air made him excited or not.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Ugh, fine.” Karkat tapped the button to initialize his stupid page and couldn’t bear to look afterward. “What do I do now?” He asked, not knowing how this shit worked really. It was mostly shown in minimal detail in movies, and it's not like anyone else told him the details.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well, you’ll probably have to wait a bit. Once you get matched with someone you’ll be able to talk to them.” Dave explained calmly, leaning back and planting his hands on the ground behind him. Karkat wondered how he always could seem so calm. Seriously. It was a little scary. “While you’re waiting, I have an idea for what we could do.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Karkat eyed him with suspicion, further wondering what could be on this jackass’s mind. Also somewhat scared. But self-preservation be damned, he was curious. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What are you thinking?” He questioned, unable to keep the suspicious tone out of his voice. The other seemed excited, and got a ‘huge’ (for Dave) grin on his face.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dave held out his hand after slowly standing to his feet. His knees made a weird popping noise. Damn, humans made so many weird noises Karkat didn’t understand. Nonetheless, with his heart skipping a beat he grabbed the human’s hand and followed him. He was led downstairs, and opposite the way of the living room or kitchen. He almost tripped on a lump in the carpet but managed to survive until he set eyes upon the somewhat overgrown tiny backyard that the house apparently had. He was holding Dave’s hand. That’s the thing that stuck in his mind now. He tried to not focus on that, and looked around the yard. A ton of junk littered the edges, and the grass was higher than ankle height.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So why are we out here?” Karkat asked, turning his head to look at the other. Dave stepped forward and let go of his hand, leaving Karkat slightly saddened by this. However, curiosity came to the forefront as Dave took up position in the middle of the lawn. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“We can sword fight again but with sticks because you aren’t allowed to hold swords.” Dave said in a happy-ish tone. Wow, okay. Blunt, but probably necessary.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“And where are we gonna find sticks, dumbass?” Karkat asked, then Dave rose a finger and turned. He started walking through the grass, looking down in search of a stick, probably. He walked and looked for a while until he suddenly stopped and leaned down, grabbing at something in the grass and then coming back up with two sticks, around two to three feet long each. How the fuck. “I highly doubt these are going to work for anything like this.” He voiced his doubt, expression falling to a half-glare.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well I don’t know where I put my wooden swords so this is going to have to do.” Dave shrugged, stepping toward Karkat with a stick held out in his hand. Karkat reluctantly took it, feeling the smooth layer covering the stick, would it count as bark? He wasn’t sure. It was super light, however, which was a distinct difference from the wooden swords they’d used before. He held it at the base in his hand, and watched as Dave took several steps backward, getting into position. “Cmon. You go first.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“This is fucking dumb. You’re such a dork.” Karkat frowned and looked at the human, feeling silly holding a dumb stick in his hand. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dave shook his head. “No, John’s the dork. I’m cool as fuck. Just come at me, coward.” He said playfully, then saw Karkat’s hesitation. “Okay, fine, I’ll take the lead.” He said, then suddenly rushed forward. Karkat panicked and dodged to the side, being rewarded by a stinging smack on his leg. He swung his own stick defensively at Dave, trying to edge farther away and avoid any more smacks. It got to the point he hardly had any time to react in between swipes, but soon he raised his own stick to block the next blow.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Fucking stop you bitch-” Karkat wheezed and flicked his wrist suddenly, swiping to the side and knocking the stick out of Dave’s hand. Ha. “This is dumb! You’re just trying to take the chance to beat the shit out of me.” Karkat snarled, glaring at Dave. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dave simply shrugged. “Cmon dude, it’s fun, I swear.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I don’t feel fun, I just feel pain.” Karkat rubbed his arm where he had been whacked at one point, pouting. It wasn’t that bad, but he wasn’t gonna admit that. He locked his gaze on Dave’s shades, and for once he could just </span>
  <em>
    <span>tell</span>
  </em>
  <span> that Dave was staring right back. He felt himself starting to give in, he couldn’t handle being stared at like that. But he wasn’t gonna give in </span>
  <em>
    <span>easily</span>
  </em>
  <span>, no. He had to plan what he was gonna do in the next few moments.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dave didn’t even have the stick in his hand- wait, no, he went to reach for it. Karkat quickly whacked the human’s arm before he could get it, then stuck his tongue out. Immaturity always wins. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Bruh.” Dave winced but still picked it up. “Okay I guess this hurts more than I thought.” He admitted, but sidestepped as Karkat darted forward. Karkat swept his arm down and to the side, getting a hit in on Dave’s thigh. He had misjudged his lunge and was heading straight for the ground, but managed to flow the movement into a roll and was soon on the ground but upright at least, blocking a hit from Dave with his own stick as his hand rose instinctively. Despite the years that had passed, he still could draw on those skills he had to use on Alternia.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He couldn’t say that he was physically specialized for it anymore, though. He snapped back to attention after the images of his hive popped into his head, trying to get those out as fast as possible. Another swipe was coming for his face but he blocked it again, then while Dave was drawing back for another hit, he swiped his own ‘weapon’ to whack him in the side, then surged upward aiming for Dave’s face. He didn’t account for Dave’s movement, who stepped backward and tripped- Karkat almost immediately following him. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He moved his arms to protect his face as he fell and ended up rolling away from Dave onto his back, a rock jabbing into his shoulder. He had his eyes closed, luckily he hadn’t hit his head on anything but soft grass and dirt. Once he did open his eyes he saw Dave was already back up and holding out a hand to help him up. Karkat hissed and grabbed the offered hand, pulling to his feet once more. He could feel several bruises forming on his arms and legs, and pouted. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“This is so fucked. Sticks are not specialized for this shit.” He complained, rubbing a particularly pained spot on his upper arm. He inspected the spots on his arm, noting that he actually had a few scratches. No blood, but it was enough to sting annoyingly. “Look what you did, you bitch.” He said in a mock angered voice.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Aw does the poor baby need his booboos kissed-” Dave made grabby hands like he was actually going to, and Karkat pushed his face away.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Gross! I don’t want your shitty human germs, that’s gross.” Okay he actually did want his shitty human germs technically but not in the stupid teasing way that was happening. “That’s so </span>
  <em>
    <span>gay</span>
  </em>
  <span> Dave.” He mocked, knowing that would have a chance to stop him from trying.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It’s not gay to give your homies healing smooches, Karkat.” Dave said as if it was the most obvious thing ever and that Karkat should feel stupid for insinuating anything else. Karkat huffed, knowing where this would go if he kept trying to push this line of conversation. So instead he rolled his eyes and pulled his arm from when Dave’s hand rested on his forearm. “Fine dude.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Look Dave it’s not like you’re my moirail, it just doesn’t work when it’s just your homies.” Karkat said, fully prepared to spread misinformation about quadrants to fuck with Dave.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Do moirails actually have healing shit?” A whole ass human male in the trap now, Karkat had to refrain from giving an evil grin.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Karkat nodded, dropping his stick and crossing his arms over his chest. They were just standing in the middle of the grass and talking now, the sky clouded over and hinting at more rain coming soon. A light breeze chilled him, but he didn’t mind. “Yeah, totally. Though usually it’s done through licking.” As if making an example he poked his tongue out between his teeth, then closed his mouth again. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I dunno dude that sounds like bullshit.” Dave said, okay maybe he was smarter than Karkat gave him credit for. Then again Karkat was just absolutely terrible at lying, so.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>But gog damn it if he wasn’t gonna keep trying. “You know, Dave, calling alien culture bullshit is really xenophobic.” He said calmly, waving a hand around for emphasis of his words. “I’ll excuse your absolute stupidity, though, because you don’t know any better.” Damn. Who was he starting to sound like, because it certainly wasn’t himself.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah whatever.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Karkat could sense the eyeroll without even seeing it and huffed. He was distracted by a sudden ping from his phone. He wondered if it was that app he had gotten as he brought it up. No, it wasn’t, but what it </span>
  <em>
    <span>was</span>
  </em>
  <span> truly surprised him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh, shit, hold on, I gotta take this.” He said offhandedly, heading inside. He had a text message from one of his friends. One of the ones he hadn’t talked to in fucking ages. Terezi, specifically. He ducked through the door and sat down on the floor in the hallway, leaning back against the wall. The message was just a simple </span>
  <span>H3LLO</span>
  <span> as a text to him. Fuck. Fuck, he wasn’t prepared for this.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>CG: HEY</span>
</p><p>
  <span>GC: H3Y K4RKL3S</span>
</p><p>
  <span>GC: LONG T1M3 NO T4LK TO</span>
</p><p>
  <span>CG: NO FUCKING DUH, TEREZI</span>
</p><p>
  <span>CG: WHAT DO YOU WANT</span>
</p><p>
  <span>GC: DO 1 N33D TO W4NT SOM3TH1NG TO T4LK TO YOU</span>
</p><p>
  <span>CG: UH, YEAH? YOU NEVER FUCKING TALK TO ME OTHERWISE</span>
</p><p>
  <span>GC: OK4Y W3LL</span>
</p><p>
  <span>GC: 1 JUST W4NT3D TO T3LL YOU</span>
</p><p>
  <span>GC: G4MZ33 GOT OUT OF TH4T PL4C3</span>
</p><p>
  <span>GC: 4ND H3 S41D H3 W4S COM1NG TO YOU &gt;:/</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Karkat paused. Gamzee? Gamzee was coming here? Holy shit. He didn’t know whether to be excited or not. He had hardly talked or even seen Gamzee in forever… not since he left initially. He was indeed happy, but also a little worried. What the fuck would he even say to Gamzee? ‘Hey bro yeah I ran away and abandoned all my friends and shit glad you’re out.’ That was dumb as fuck.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He took a deep breath, thinking of how to reply. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>CG: THAT’S GREAT</span>
</p><p>
  <span>CG: WHEN DID HE LEAVE?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>GC: 34RL13R TOD4Y</span>
</p><p>
  <span>GC: 1 TH1NK H3LL PROB4BLY G3T TH3R3 1N TH3 N3XT F3W D4YS</span>
</p><p>
  <span>CG: ALRIGHT. THANKS FOR TELLING ME</span>
</p><p>
  <span>GC: Y3P</span>
</p><p>
  <strong>carcinoGeneticist has closed the chat</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Okay. He could do this. He could deal with this situation like any normal person, of course. He even had time to prepare for when Gamzee got here. Fuck, where would Gamzee sleep or live in general while he was here? Was he staying for a long time? SO many questions that he couldn’t possibly know the answers to. He was almost certain Terezi wouldn’t know either. He noticed a few more messages coming in from Sollux. The most he’d talked to Sollux was for computer help.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Wait, fuck, he remembered the flash drive he had usually. He sighed and got up, passing Dave as he walked into their now-shared room. Karkat crouched next to the box holding his electronic stuff and looked through it. The flash drive was not there. Fuck. “Dave!” He turned his head to find Dave passing the doorway, pausing when he heard his name. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I forgot something in my room. I need to go back real quick.” He said, closing the box up once more and sitting back.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Shit dude, alright. I could take you back in the car, Dirk’s probably taking the truck back.” Dave said, reaching into his pocket, presumably for the keys.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Alright.” Karkat trotted out of the room and down the stairs, moving fast enough that his hair was rustled by the gentle ‘breeze’ as he shot through the front door. He hadn’t noticed it was starting to get dark out when he was in the backyard, but the sky was tinting pink. He was feeling the settling of soreness in his arms and back, thankful to sit down in the front seat of the car in the driveway. A low clunk signalled Dave getting into the driver’s seat, turning the keys in the ignition. The car rumbled to life and soon enough they were heading to Karkat’s place. Except that after today it wouldn’t be his place. He would finally be out of that hole.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Maybe he could actually deal with other issues better. He could see it being easier to take care of himself when he also had to deal with other people around him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Karkat stared out the window as the outside world streamed past, the sky getting darker as he watched it. The clouds had cleared mostly, but in the distance there were dark ones promising more rain soon. He closed his eyes and could feel himself drifting off as the car moved. It felt like only seconds later when he opened his eyes back up, and they were </span>
  <em>
    <span>there</span>
  </em>
  <span>. The campus was there and soon he would only have to return for classes and not much else.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He looked over at Dave, who seemed to be staring at him expectantly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ll go in on my own, I’ll be quick.” He promised, though slightly worried about finding more notes. No, he’d just grab the flashdrive, and then get the fuck out of there. He ducked out of the car quickly and started speedwalking inside. Someone waved at him as he passed, but he ignored them. No one he specifically knew, and no one he wanted to talk to.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He approached the door, opening it as fast as he could. He went to his bed, crouching down next to it and checking underneath. Not there. He turned his head, planting a hand on the ground so he could physically turn without falling. The desk. Nothing under it; he stood up to actually walk over, checking the drawers. Nothing in there. He crossed over to the closet space, standing on his tiptoes to see above the shelf. Fuck, there it was. He could just barely reach it with the tips of his fingers, taking a few painful moments to slowly edge it closer to himself. Fuck yeah. About ten seconds of struggling later, he staggered backward, flash drive pressed to his palm. Stretching was certainly not on the list of enjoyable activities at the moment, but at least he was hopefully done with all the heavy lifting for today.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He finally turned and closed the closet door behind him, but suddenly found himself frozen in place as he saw a figure in the window. It was way too fucking big to be a person, even a troll. He couldn’t see it clearly, as it was in shadow, but it still froze him in place and made his heart stop. He stared at it, unable to move otherwise- his limbs were locked but a chill ran down his spine. It was a beast, or it seemed like one. Claws tapped on the glass and ran down the surface, making a tiny screech sound. When he was finally able to move, he was on the ground in the next moment, knees to his chest and arms covered his face. He tried to keep his breaths quiet, but they only staggered and soon he felt like he was hyperventilating yet not breathing at all at the same time.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He felt like he was sitting there for ages, not seeing anything but darkness as he covered his eyes with his arms. When nothing happened for a while, he peeked past his arms anxiously. He didn’t see anything directly in front of him, and his gaze flicked toward the window. Nothing was there. Everything seemed fine. He took a deep breath, lungs hurting from the effort. What even </span>
  <em>
    <span>was</span>
  </em>
  <span> that? He felt like he could hardly think, head just hurting now. He must have been there for a while. He spotted Dave in the doorway, a barely masked expression of worry covering his face. Aw. At least someone seemed actively concerned about him. What a lie.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You doin okay?” Dave said, voice low and calm like normal. He walked over to stand in front of Karkat, who looked up at him with a nervous expression. What was Karkat gonna say? He was probably just seeing things and freaking out over nothing, no matter how real it felt. So of course he was going to lie.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I just suddenly got a really bad headache.” Karkat slowly started to get up, back sliding up the door behind him, now trapped to the wall with Dave in front of him. He gave a tiny groan - well it wasn’t a complete lie. His head was getting worse by the second. He raised his palm to press to his forehead, hoping that would help a tiny bit. It only helped somewhat, but it was better than nothing. He closed his eyes, wincing. He needed something, what did he need. Something to ground him. The headache only managed to muddle his thoughts, but those thoughts were just freaking out.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>In his attempt to find something to grasp at, he actually physically grabbed onto Dave’s arm. It was awkward and weird, but he opened his eyes and looked up at Dave. He could see his own reflection in the human’s shades.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Dave?” Karkat said apprehensively, feeling awkward about this whole thing already.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Karkat started to say something, but hesitated. No, he’d be fine without some bullshit needy urge being fulfilled. “Um, I think we can go now.” He said, arm dropping to his side and freeing the other. “Sorry.” He felt so weak right now. He needed to get a handle on this stupid shit now. He hated being like this. He saw Dave’s hand move as if about to touch him, but ended up dropped to his side once more.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Alright, let’s go then.” Dave reached out again to grab Karkat’s wrist and start leading him out of the room. Karkat noticed he had been gripping the flash drive in his hand tightly, how had it gotten back there? Whatever. His memory and thoughts in general were being fucky. The warmth of Dave’s hand on his wrist was grounding as he followed the human out of the building. He quickly picked up the pace, not wanting to stay there any longer than necessary. It got to the point he was half-running and dragging Dave along with him. Luckily they got back to the car relatively quickly. He felt exhausted. As he climbed into the front seat he yawned, showing off his scary lil teeth.</span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>__________</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dave took his shades off as he found the sky was getting dark. Unfortunately driving required good eyesight, which was a thing shades made him not have. If only they made his sight better, but that was not a thing that happened typically. Nonetheless, the drive was relatively quiet. He was pretty sure his passenger had fallen asleep a while ago, but didn’t have the heart to check lest he get distracted. It was like a kitten, once he saw the absolute cute he just couldn’t look away. But of course it wasn’t in any gay way of course. No, that would be unacceptable.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Luckily he knew even if Karkat WAS awake, he wouldn’t be able to see these sexy red eyes. Nope, only the best of bros got to scope these babies. While Karkat was soon approaching best bro status, he was not quite yet there. For now, Dave just drove. He wanted to turn on some music, but didn’t particularly feel like incurring the wrath of a tiny gremlin man at the moment. Normally he would love to do so, but it was too late to spend that kind of energy.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He heard a tiny sound from Karkat’s direction, and glanced over at him. Yep, out cold. Head turned toward the window, face out of sight. Thank god. He knew that sound anywhere, it looks like Karkat had a late-night matchup. He had to ignore the tiny feeling that he felt settle in his chest at that, and locked his gaze back on the road. In no time, they were back at his house. Pulling into the driveway, the car went silent and he debated on trying to wake the troll up. It was a terrible idea, of course. Yeah no he got out of the car, closing his door gently and circling around to the other side. He opened Karkat’s door, and held it open with his leg as he ducked forward and carefully put one arm under the troll’s knees, and the other at his back, picking him up and edging backward, cautious. A little heavier than he looked, but Dave could at least get him to his room. He kicked closed the car door and started the trek inside.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dave approached the front door, kicking it rather than knocking. He didn’t exactly have any free hands. If he did have free hands, he felt like that would be a whole different issue that they’d need to deal with. He’d be some weird mutant but honestly it would be cool.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Breaking him out of his thought trail, Rose appeared in the doorway as the hinges lightly creaked. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Why hello Dave, you seem to have a moderately frightening being in your arms. I would definitely ask how particularly you got to be in this situation, but I have a feeling you’d drop him mid-explanation.” She said, then opened the door the rest of the way and allowed him past. The stairs were the most daunting task. He was warned about those, bro.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Sup Rose. You know how it is, alien shenanigans and all. Sometimes it's just fated for you to have a small alien boy in your strong manly care when you’re out with the bros.” He replied, approaching the bottom step and eyeing the top of the case with a look of reproach. This was one situation he had not thought about. “Should I put him on the couch?” Dave looked to Rose for guidance, given the fact she always seemed to have answers anyways.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“While I’m certain it would save you a lot of pain and effort, I’m also entirely certain that he would not appreciate it.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>God damn it she was right. The little shit would do a wicked flip off that handle if he woke up in the middle of the living room. Dave sighed and started working his way up the stairs, slowly, step by step. He was almost certain he was going to fall about three different times, but he managed to make it up at the top with legs trembling from the effort and stress involved in not killing them both. He heard a quiet mutter of ‘good night’ from Rose.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Night, Rose.” He said, then stepped quietly toward his room. Finally. He was gonna have to work on being able to carry this fucker for longer. That is, given the event he’d ever be allowed to do that while Karkat was awake.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He walked over to Karkat’s makeshift bed and knelt down, setting the sleeping troll down and moving to stand back up. That is, he only got so far before he noted the hand gripping his upper sleeve, and frowned. Karkat was still definitely asleep, but still so stubbornly grabbing onto the clothing article. He carefully pried the hand away from his shirt, and finally got free. He laid down in his bed, staring up at Obama with a wistful expression. Oh Obama. What would he ever do? That was the real question. What would Obama do.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Well, that was certainly a question to contemplate as his mind strayed a little bit. Today marked the day that would bring a bit of change. Well, not that much, the little gremlin had already been staying in his room for the last few days, so that wasn’t new. But now… it was official. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Meh, oh well. He only thought about it a tiny bit more before he drifted off to sleep.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Altered View</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The gays have feelings.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Sorry for any inconsistencies, I just wanted to get this released!</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Dave tapped his pencil against his notepad, staring at his laptop with a locked-on glare. Why was he so stressed? He had no reason to be stressed. He could hardly hear what his prof was saying, the sound becoming background noise. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Tap tap tap tap.</span>
  </em>
  <span> The sound of his pencil was the only think he heard, the rhythm steady. He knew the class would be ending soon, so he slowly closed the lid of his laptop as the professor closed in whatever point he was making.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He got up as soon as the class was dismissed, and packed up his shit into his bag. He was down the hall before anyone could say anything otherwise. He felt better now that he was out of that room, the sunlight streaming into the hallway making it feel like there was much more room here. People shuffled past, the sound of quiet chatter and footsteps filling the hallway.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He spotted John and smiled, the sight of his best friend instantly making his mood better. As soon as Egbert was within arm’s reach, Dave was messing up his hair with a smug grin on his face. “Sup nerd.” He said, then gave a dramatic wheeze as John’s arms wrapped around his torso. “Damn, you’re gonna squeeze me to death bro.” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“That’s what you get for messing with the hair, Dave. That’s like, treason.” John said, releasing him from the hug after a few moments. He had that dorky grin activated that just made Dave so goddamn happy.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah, I guess you could say that. Such fuckin’ treason that my ass is gonna get pounded to fuckin bits by the buff executioner in charge of ‘heading me.” Dave said, continuing his way down the hallway with John following along at his side. “Anyway, you comin home with me this time, or…?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Nah, not this time. I got a ton of work to get done at home.” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Are you going to the party later? I’m sure Jade would appreciate you being there.” Dave mentioned, noting the information he had received earlier. Apparently Jade’s brother? Cousin? Whatever they were, apparently he was visiting for a while and would be staying with Jade. So of course they were throwing a party to celebrate. So far it had been pretty quiet, not talked about a whole lot.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh yeah, totally. That’s kind of why I wanna get some stuff done before I do!” John glanced toward the doors they were approaching as they reached the outside. Dave quickly stepped forward to hold the door open for John. “I guess I’ll see you later Dave!” John turned to leave, but Dave grabbed his arm and huffed.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Bro. You’d just leave me like this?” He said dramatically, pouting at John until he seemed to realize what the matter was. “Dude, you can’t just leave the homies like this.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh no! I almost forgot!” John gave him another quick hug, then turned to leave successfully this time. Dave stared after him, sighing happily. God, he was fucked. Not even gay, and totally into his best fucking friend, who also happened to be very extremely not gay. What the hell was he gonna do. Oh, probably just make more vague flirty jokes and say ‘no homo’ a lot. Yknow, like normal.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He turned his gaze to the car he now had to get into, spotting Dirk in the drivers’ seat. He quickly trotted to the car and got in. Relative silence followed as they started the journey home, Dirk turning on some of his own music while Dave chilled and stared out the window. He noticed that Dirk seemed a little… on edge, if that was a good way to describe it. Dave wanted so bad to know what Dirk was thinking to get him like this, but at the same time he had his own shit to be worried about.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Dave had actually nothing to worry about. Nothing rational. If anything, he was just a tiny bit worried that Karkat had been gone for the last two days, originally going on a date he picked up from that dating app- then he had decided to stay with some friend for a while. Dave had no idea why he was so worried about that, though. It wasn’t much of his business, anyhow. He just had to chill. Maybe it was the fact Karkat had gone on a date? Dave </span>
  <em>
    <span>had</span>
  </em>
  <span> been the one to sign Karkat up in the first place, but something made him feel bad about that. He understood none of it, and he didn’t think he necessarily would any time soon.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The drive was quiet and nothing particularly dramatic happened. He was home before he knew it, and felt a pang in his chest as he didn’t spot Karkat’s motorcycle in the driveway or on the road. He was supposed to be back soon, but Dave was thinking he’d be back earlier. Oh well. He got out of the car and didn’t wait for Dirk as he entered the house, immediately navigating to the couch and sitting down, putting his feet on Roxy’s lap as she sat there. Luckily she did not mind, and Dave pulled out his phone. He didn’t actually have anything specific to do on there, he just scrolled through his twitter while zoning out, not paying attention to the things on the screen. He glanced up as he saw Dirk heading for his room, and Dave felt worried about that too. What could Dirk be worried about? Did it have something to do with Jade or her brother? Dave knew next to nothing about Jake other than what Jade always seemed to talk about.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Something about how he lived off on the other side of the world, going on several trips to islands and such when he could and generally being some badass adventurer starting at the age of eleven. From what he knew, Dirk wouldn’t know anything more about the guy than Dave would. So the issue could be with Jade. But Dirk never really showed much interest in Jade, other than the occasional chat about furries and my little pony. Dave was at a loss for what could be bothering Dirk. Maybe it wasn’t Jake OR Jade. Was Dirk actually messed up over his whole thing with Karkat? Dave knew the whole thing had been planned, but what if Dirk actually liked the fucking gremlin? Ugh. That had a lot of connotations to it.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He had a lot of feelings, like wariness about Karkat when it came to Dirk. Karkat on his own was fine. Dave even kinda liked the little fuck, but he wanted to keep the two separate. Ever since the whole fiasco that sent Dirk to the hospital. God, would it be fucked up if he tried to keep them from getting together if they actually were into each other?</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Dave internally sighed and actually paid attention to what his phone was saying. Some of his favorite ironic twitter people were saying funny things. He also followed Obama, but of course the man was so great that he couldn’t just say anything in those tweets. Some miscellaneous news about some storms, the usual. He checked his text messages, the only one he had being John telling him he got home fine. Dave of course sent a kissy emoji and went back to the wild internet west.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He sat there for around twenty minutes before he finally heard the sound of the front door opening, and looked up. He heard Karkat before he saw him, the troll seemed to be on the phone and growling at someone in his normal angry tone.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“No! Fuck you, I’m not going to do that. Look, I just got home, I need to- okay, FINE. I’ll say it. ‘Honk honk’ are you fucking happy now? Yeah, okay.” Karkat walked past the living room entrance and started up the stairs, out of Dave’s sight. “Alright. Bye.” His voice was gone now too, and Dave got up to follow after him.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“A little eager, now, aren’t we?” Roxy said before he could climb over the back of the couch.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Dave looked at her, a tiny frown forming on his face. “What do you mean?” He asked, hands gripping the back of the seat with his knees on the cushion. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Nothing.” Roxy just laughed a little and turned her gaze onto the TV. The sweet sweet sounds of the Office were playing, and Dave simply rolled his eyes before climbing over the couch and heading up the stairs. Roxy was just being weird, like usual. Now he actually had an opportunity to talk to Karkat. Figure out how the date had gone, make sure his friends weren’t inviting him into some weird blood cult. He reached the door to his room, which was closed. He debated knocking before entering, but just shrugged and walked in anyways.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He caught a glimpse of the exposed skin of Karkat’s lower back as the troll pulled on a shirt. Ignoring the way his face slightly heated up, Dave approached his bed and sat down, looking over at Karkat. He probably already knew what Dave was going to ask, so Dave didn’t know if he SHOULD ask.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Learn to knock, jackass.” Karkat muttered under his breath, tossing his clothes into the nearby laundry hamper he had set up. “And quit staring at me, I’m alive. You don’t need to freak the fuck out, I am not a ghost.” He put his hands up as if in surrender.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Dave leaned forward, elbows on his legs as he hunched forward. “So how did the date go?” he asked finally, anticipating the answer. But how did he actually want Karkat to reply? Obviously as a good bro he wanted to hear that it went well. And not only because he wanted to avoid Karkat getting ideas about getting with Dirk. “Did you fall in love and find the perfect person?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Karkat didn’t reply at first, his face falling as he huffed and turned, taking a few steps toward his bed and sitting down on the floor next to it. He glanced over at Dave, clearly reluctant to say anything.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Uh, well, the guy didn’t even show up. I stayed there for like an hour before I decided to leave.” He sounded like he was holding more information back. Dave wondered what else could have happened, and decided to press a little more for it.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“So where did you go after, then? Spill the tea, dude, I’m slavering at the jaws for this sweet sweet over-sugary scalding liquid.” Dave said, running a hand through his hair and absolutely sitting in anticipation for the potential answer he could get.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I just went to see Gamzee earlier than I thought I would.” Karkat’s tone became a little more guarded, and Dave wondered what else could have happened.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“So is everything alright, then?” He pushed further.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Why the fuck do you want to know this? I don’t think it’s any of your fucking business, Dave.” Karkat snapped, eyes showing some amount of mirth. “But maybe you’re just too busy thinking about whatever long, entirely-too-lengthy response to absolutely anything I say.” His hands  clasped together in his lap, showing his stress.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Dave slightly frowned, leaning back and moving his hands to keep him sitting up, palms planted behind him on the bed. He felt a slight breeze from the doorway, and the sounds of his siblings moving around downstairs. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s totally my business. I need to know this shit so I know how to best support you as best bro numero uno.” He was saying, lifting a hand to gesture around with to emphasize his words.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Bold of you to assume you’re my best friend.” Karkat growled. He crossed his arms now and tilted his head forward, glare darkening as he stared at Dave.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Dave gave a mock gasp and pressed a hand to his chest, scoffing. “Wow, Karkat. I’m so hurt by that, I’m probably going to die.” His other hand went up to his forehead, wheezing dramatically. “I’m going to die from absolute heartbreak.” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“The crowd screams with rage as their favorite actor dies off in the show because of stupid emotions. They bleed from their various bodily cavities as they writhe in agony on the floor, and both their corpses and the lead’s corpse gets feasted on by ravenous gullbeasts that haven’t eaten in ten months.” Karkat went on. For whatever reason he seemed more animated while saying that than usual.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Damn but imagine being eaten alive, bro.” Dave said, resting his chin on his palm as he watched Karkat scowl at him. He then saw mischief dawn on the troll’s face.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“That sounds kind of human gay to me, Dave.” Karkat said slowly, as if anticipating his words to make absolutely no fuckin sense. Which they didn’t, but Dave felt a little bit offended anyways. How dare anyone accuse him of being gay. Absolutely not. There was no gay here, not now not ever. He decided not to acknowledge that, however, because he clearly didn’t care. Not at all.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Bruh. Anyways, are you planning on coming with us to the party later?” Dave asked, seeing surprise light up Karkat’s face before it was quickly quashed. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“The one with uh, your friend? I dunno, I thought that was a personal thing. Also I didn’t even know it was today?” Karkat planted his hands in his lap and frowned, looking not too jazzed about the sudden onset of a party he was actually invited to. Not only that, but now Dave noticed he looked a bit… tired. More than usual, at least. He wondered what could be wrong. “But I guess this means I </span>
  <em>
    <span>am</span>
  </em>
  <span> invited.” Dave nodded, and Karkat nodded as well. “Okay, I mean… I really don’t want to be stuck here alone, so.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Dave gave a tiny smile and a thumbs up. “Hell yeah dude. We have a few hours until then, though. And don’t worry, Jade’s pretty excitable but she’s super nice once you get used to her. I’m not sure about Jake, but if anyone there bothers you I’m sure one of us can take you home.” he started, going on a bit.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Shut the fuck up and help me choose something to wear.” Karkat demanded, getting up and moving to stand in front of Dave, grabbing his arm and dragging him to stand, as well. Dave winced as his grip kinda hurt, but only a bit. It wouldn’t bruise, but it didn’t feel nice either. He eyed Karkat’s current outfit, and frowned. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Why can’t you just go in what you’re wearing right now?” He asked, gesturing to Karkat’s clothes. “It looks fine.” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Karkat looked like Dave had just offended his ancestor(s) and then scowled at him. “Bitch! If I’m gonna be going to a party with people I actually might give a shit about not looking dumb in front of, then I’m gonna wear something that makes me not look like a dumbfuck.” He released Dave to throw his hands up, making Dave only slightly wince. The troll seemed very anxious about this, so Dave just decided to go along with it. Not that he would make it very fun, though. Now it was just time to go root through Karkat’s boxes that were still unpacked. However, he was stopped, then directed toward not a box, but a duffel bag off to the side instead. Dammit. Dave didn’t have an excuse to do weird shit now. Well, he didn’t really have an excuse before, but he just wanted to piss this little gremlin guy off.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Nonetheless, he now went to Karkat’s bag and dragged out the potential clothing, laying it out on his bed. Hm, Karkat had quite the… goth emo style? Was that what it was called? Either way, it looked like he could be in a punk rock band. Dave wasn’t entirely against it, either.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>From what he’d seen before, it definitely fit Karkat. In more ways than one. Nonetheless, Karkat now sat beside him as they both stared at the array of clothing with blank looks. Dave frowned a little. He decided not to mention the occurrence of the crab-patterned boxers in the array, because he was pretty sure he himself had a pair of boxers with nicolas cage’s face on it that he got as a joke present from John a while ago, and that was significantly worse. He pointed toward a shirt that had a skull on it, but the eyes were replaced by the cancer -or as dave liked to call it, the 69 sex- symbol.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That one looks decent.” He said, shrugging and putting his hand down again. “Also maybe pair it with some jeans?” He looked at the other articles of clothing and looked at the jeans options. Bonding over fashion sense. “I don’t fucking know, all of these make me think you robbed a Hot Topic.” Nevermind. He still needs to be an asshole.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Fuck off, Dave! You wouldn’t know fashion if some giant tentacle beast came out of the ocean, ripped out your eyes, dunked them in the pissfluid of the gog of fashion himself and then returned them to your pitiful eye receptacles.” Karkat was saying, but Dave only understood about half of it.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Damn Karkat you’re into tentacles? You never struck me for the kinky type.” Dave smirked, sitting back and staring at the troll. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Alright listen here you pungent shitbiscuit, if you say one more thing that is even CLOSE to mentioning something sexual I am going to tear my own hear ducts out.” Karkat was clearly getting more agitated as the conversation continued. And Dave was profiting off of it. He debated whether or not to push it further. The debate wasn’t too hard to get through.  Of course he was going to push it further.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Damn, Karkat. You kinda need to chill out. How are you gonna get anything done when you have such a fifty inch metal rod up your ass?” Dave said, calmly smiling as that seemed to push the troll over the edge. However instead of acting out like Dave expected, Karkat just started aggressively folding the clothing laid out in front of them. There came no response, just more folding, Karkat’s face covered in a reddish flush, probably out of anger. Dave rolled his eyes and reached to grab one and at least help a little bit, but they had both reached for the same one. And now Dave’s hand was being tightly held onto and practically crushed by Karkat’s.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Jesus christ dude lemme g-” He stopped when suddenly Karkat’s face was just inches from his own, snarling in rage. Any normal person would have been terrified of a snarling alien this close, but Dave didn’t feel anything like that. Whatever he </span>
  <em>
    <span>was</span>
  </em>
  <span> feeling, he didn’t know.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Bruh.” he was practically unable to move away, leaning back slightly with the troll still in his face.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Listen. If you don’t shut the fuck up and stop with your bullshit, I’m going to-” Karkat was stopped short by a finger lightly pressing to the tip of his nose, blinking in confusion. “What the fuck-”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Dave grinned, then retracted his hand and smiled. “What are you gonna do?” He asked, sounding genuinely curious and only a tiny bit condescending. Karkat’s expression went from bewilderment to a pout, making him sit back - still gripping onto Dave’s hand - and looking away, face getting redder by the second.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Dave tried to move his hand away, but Karkat’s loosened grip just tightened again. “Bro if we keep holding hands like this I’m gonna start thinking you’re-”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Would you be fucking </span>
  <em>
    <span>QUIET</span>
  </em>
  <span> for once in your goddamn life, Strider? Do you need to endlessly run your bulgetrap for no reason but to hear your own fucking sexy voice, or can you actually be quiet long enough to be something less than an insufferable prick all the fucking time?!” Karkat said, his free hand gesturing around the air in his angry rant. “Don’t even fucking answer that, I know whatever you say is going to be even more of the most indecipherable bullshit to ever grace my think tubes.” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>This time Dave actually went quiet, not sure what to say. There was a lot to unpack about everything Karkat just said, and he was unsure where to start. Fortunately or unfortunately, he didn't get the opportunity to, because Karkat’s hand tightened around his even more, getting more painful. “Ow, fuck.” He finally tried to pull his hand back again, getting free from Karkat’s death grip. Dave rubbed at his now-hurting wrist and frowned ever so slightly. “Jeez dude, I think I might need it replaced.” He held out his hand, holding it limp to show it was so </span>
  <em>
    <span>totally</span>
  </em>
  <span> dead.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh shut up you big baby, I’m not even strong enough to actually hurt anything.” The mood already seemed to be taking another dramatic shift, and Dave took a deep breath he didn’t know he had been holding in. Karkat took Dave’s hand in his own, examining the limb with his touches much softer than before. Dave was already getting emotional whiplash.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Once Karkat seemed satisfied that Dave wasn’t actually injured, he released him again.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“See, you won’t even bruise, dumbass.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Bro, it hurts so bad.” Dave complained specifically to be more annoying. Though, he wouldn’t push it quite so far this next round. Hopefully. “I think I might need my homie’s magical healing kisses for it to get better.” Okay where the fuck did that come from? He hardly knew what the actual fuck was coming out of his mouth. What the fuck. What the fuck.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Karkat seemed as alarmed as Dave felt internally, and Dave quickly tried to backpedal before Karkat thought he was serious.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Haha I-”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“You know what? Okay.” Karkat’s expression changed to something Dave couldn’t even read, taking his hand in his grey palm for the second time in the last few minutes. He brought the hand close to his mouth, and Dave’s brain short-circuited to the point he was hardly registering anything happening, he just suppressed a shudder going down his spine as he froze in place and watched this. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>What he expected, however, certainly didn’t happen. Instead he felt pointy teeth nipping at his hand, which he yanked away. “Dude what the fuck?” He checked his skin, surprised to not see any blood. “Bruh.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Karkat grinned and started laughing, leaning backward and putting a hand over his mouth. “Haha you’re such a dumbfuck. Gotcha, bitch!” He raised a hand victoriously in the air. “Yes!” Dave was just left muddled in his utter confusion. What the hell just happened? And why did he feel so weird about this now? After Karkat had his fill of laughter, he calmed down and just smirked at Dave. “Alright. Now fuck off while I try and pick something, you’re being the opposite of helpful right now.” He made a shooing motion, and Dave reluctantly complied.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Dave slowly got up, keeping his face neutral as usual as he edged toward the door. He walked out, closing the door behind him, and leaning against the wall next to it. He slid down into a sitting position and wheezed, putting both hands over his eyes. Fuck.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
<hr/>
<p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Karkat had to psych himself up for what was soon to come. He was in the car on the way toward whoever’s house they were supposedly going to. From what he knew about everything happening, is that there was going to be a small party at Jade’s house, whoever she was. It was to celebrate her brother visiting the country and everyone’s close friends were supposedly invited. He totally wouldn’t have gone, but the thought of being in a big house alone kind of freaked him out, especially with everything that had been going on. The only problem is that the closer they got there, the more stressed he felt. This showed in his nervous twitches and movements - lightly scraping at the door’s armrest, knee shaking, fingers tapping on his leg. He had to take a moment to mentally calm himself, it would be okay, there wouldn’t even be that many people and he would be fine. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He managed to chill out at least a tiny bit, taking deep breaths. When they finally got there, he almost expected to see the place with a lot more people. Holy fuck, this house was practically a mansion to him. He almost asked if they had the right place, but as they pulled into the driveway, a wild-haired girl came half-running out of the house, practically tearing into the car and giving Rose and Dave hugs. Karkat was glad he wasn’t too near either of them, legitimately scared he was going to be torn to shreds by this stranger.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Karkat looked away from them, toward the surroundings. He’d wait to get out until everything calmed down a little. There were a ton of trees in all directions, this place feeling like the middle of the woods despite just being at the edge of the city. He supposed that would explain the strange girl’s wild appearance, and his gaze trailed over to her without realizing it. Or, he did realize it, as soon as he saw </span>
  <em>
    <span>her</span>
  </em>
  <span> bright green eyes lock on him. Oh fuck. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Dave had gotten out of the car and now knocked on Karkat’s window, opening the door for him to get out. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He debated staying in the car, but reluctantly got out nonetheless. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Hey Karkat, this is Jade Harley, one of my best friends.” Dave said calmly, a half-smile plastered onto his face as he wrapped an arm around Jade’s shoulders. Karkat could tell immediately Dave was particularly close to her, in a similar way to him with John. He kind of wondered what was behind that, but didn’t think about it too long.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Hi there! I’ve heard a bit about you, Karkat.” Jade ducked away from Dave to approach the troll, sticking a hand out for him to shake. Her nails were painted black, a contrast from her overall…. Aura? Whatever.  Karkat shook her hand after realizing he had left her hanging for a few seconds.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Uh, hi.” He almost winced at the slight stammer in his voice. He knew he sounded like he had a gun to his head, but he couldn’t do anything about that. He’d just have to get comfortable around these people now. He made sure to close the car door he had gotten out of before they started heading inside, keeping quiet as the others took the lead, getting deep into conversations he didn’t really know how to join in even if he wanted to. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He was glad that he was being generally ignored for the most part. It allowed him to get used to their presence, however weird it was. The inside of the building seemed more spacious than it was outside. Maybe because of the stark contrast in wall coloring - the inside seemed bright when the outside had a dark rustic feel to it. Everyone was gravitating toward the kitchen, so he tagged along behind. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>As he approached the kitchen doorway, he could hear a somewhat loud voice inside, as well as a more feminine one. The first voice had a lilt to it that Karkat couldn’t pinpoint, and as he entered he saw the two. The source of the first voice was a male, looking kind of like Jade, but more tanned and certainly taller. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The second one was a smaller female with black hair and blue eyes, she was wearing an apron and seemed to be arguing with the man.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>For some reason Karkat linked the guy to the name Jake. That had been the guy that was visiting, right? Yeah. It only made sense. He had absolutely no idea who the other lady was. Karkat noticed that everyone except Dirk had filed into the kitchen and was happily greeting the two already in there.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jade came over to the only troll in the room, Karkat. Karkat looked at her uneasily, already feeling stressed. At least it was a lot less people than it </span>
  <em>
    <span>COULD</span>
  </em>
  <span> be. She gently took his arm and edged toward the corner, voice lowering. “Hey! That’s Jake and Jane, they’re super nice I promise. Also hi! I hope we can talk a little more later to get to know each other better. If you don’t wanna hang out with the rest of us you can basically go anywhere on this floor.” She started saying, her voice sounding her excitement. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah, whatever.” He mumbled dismissively, arms crossing over his chest. “You all feel free to run your bullshit flaps and I’ll use your distraction to get into a lot of trouble and all that.” He said, waving a hand to emphasize his words. Jade’s face seemed to turn to confusion, surprise, then an eyeroll.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Okay. If you spot Dirk, maybe send him here?” Jade said, her smile returning. Karkat nodded, and watched her wander over to the rest of them. Alright. This was better. Now he hopefully wouldn’t be judged </span>
  <em>
    <span>too</span>
  </em>
  <span> hard if he disappeared for half the night. He promised himself he would visit with the others when they were more dispersed, and left the kitchen. Time to search for Dirk. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Luckily it didn’t take too much travel to find Dirk. He was in the hallway, and looked almost </span>
  <em>
    <span>too</span>
  </em>
  <span> chill as he leaned against the wall, on his phone. Karkat trudged up to him and looked at the phone. “Don’t you have a bunch of friends to go visit?” He asked dryly, and Dirk looked up from his phone - supposedly - to look at Karkat. His stupid shades blocked everything. “Or are you just going to linger in the hallway for the rest of the night?” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Dirk shrugged. “I’m not really one for big gatherings.” He said, but his posture and tensed shoulders seemed to say something else. Karkat wondered if he was anxious, too. But Dirk almost never showed any anxiety, at least not toward crowds. It was out of character to be bothered about that, and even if it was still possible, Karkat deduced it was probably something else. He tried to think of something. He didn’t know what Dirk’s relationship with any of the others was, but it obviously had to be either Jane, Jake, or Jade. He could feel his head ache at the three similar names. He definitely was going to mix those up at some point.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He still had no idea, so he decided to try and sleuth it out otherwise.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Same.” Karkat leaned against the wall next to Dirk, the wood cold on his back. “It's a lot less than most other parties, though. At least that’s what I keep using to convince myself to not go into a wild flip off the fucking handle.” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah, I’m kind of surprised you haven’t gone to hide under some furniture like a cat that’s come into new surroundings.” Dirk said, raising an eyebrow at Karkat. Karkat rolled his eyes, slightly groaning. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“So since Dave isn’t here, you have to be the one to fill my hear ducts with this kind of shit.” He said in a lighthearted half-annoyed voice. “Though I am pretty close to doing that. I don’t know if I’d fit underneath anything, though.” he shrugged. He legitimately wondered if he could fit underneath anything. The short glimpse he’d had of the living room, the couch bottom seemed pretty close to the ground. It almost distracted him from his sleuthing.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“No, I’m pretty sure you’re tiny enough to fit underneath anything. At least, if you really try.” Dirk shrugged, pushing away from the wall and heading toward the living room door. Karkat started to follow.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>However, a voice behind them sounded, “Ey! Dirk!” That was Jake’s voice, different from everyone else’s voice by a long shot. Karkat turned around to see Jake half-jogging down the hallway toward Dirk. Jake rested a hand on Dirk’s shoulder as he approached, Dirk turning as well. It was kind of surprising to see Dirk shorter than anyone, but Karkat was being surprised a lot tonight. “‘Ello Dirk, I almost thought you weren’t even here tonight!” Jake was saying, and Karkat was further surprised by a small smile forming on Dirk’s face. Holy shit.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Hey there, Jake.” Dirk said, and Jake more or less ignored Karkat in favor of leading Dirk somewhere else. Karkat took that as his opportunity to see who was left in the kitchen. Backtracking, he found the kitchen again to find Roxy and John in there. Karkat quietly walked in, not catching any of their conversation and instead peering at whatever concoction Roxy was mixing together.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“It will be fi- oh hi Karkat!” Roxy paused to smile at Karkat, then went back to John. “I’m sure it will be fine, alcohol isn’t even supposed to taste good anyways.” She said, tipping a dark bottle and pouring its contents into the pitcher of what looked like pink lemonade. She must have gotten about a third of the bottle in there before the pitcher was full, so she capped the bottle and set it to the side. She took up a spoon and started mixing it. Karkat felt like he was watching someone make a potion.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Hey Karkat.” John said, smiling at the troll before a nervous expression replaced it. He looked at Roxy, frowning. “Is alcohol really necessary?” He placed a hand on the counter and tapped a finger on the surface as he watched her stir it. Karkat sat back and eyed the concoction curiously. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s not necessary, but it’s fun. Hey Karkat, you wanna be the one to taste test it?” Roxy poured some into a glass and handed it over. Holy shit. Karkat didn’t even have the mental capacity to refuse, what with being handed it so suddenly. He stared at the pinkish liquid in the cup before tentatively taking a sip, then reeling. The sour from the lemonade was the only thing he tasted other than bitterness, and he felt like his mouth just had an aneurysm.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Ugh, that's the most vile thing I’ve tasted.” He grumbled, then proceeded to take another sip. “Let’s make everyone else drink it, too.” He was required by law to spread the affliction to everyone else, and by god was he going to make sure he followed the law. As a simp for cops apparently, he would never forsake them and cause things otherwise. His suggestion sparked mischief in Roxy’s eyes, and he couldn’t help but grin a little too. Another sip burned down his throat. “I’ll go force some down Dave’s throat. You’re next, John.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>John’s eyes widened and he took a step back. “Uh, no thanks. You’ll probably need someone to drive you all home.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Roxy smiled wider. “But John we could have a sleepover~” She said happily, as if ecstatic at the chance to have all her friends in one place for an extended amount of time. Meanwhile if Karkat was in a similar situation with all his ‘friends’ he would probably panic or lose his goddamn mind in general.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>John frowned and stared at her for a second, Karkat felt like he was watching a staring contest as Roxy did the same thing, staring at John. Then John seemed to give in, sighing.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Fine. But I’m only having a little bit. Someone needs to make sure you don't all get into trouble.” He said, then got out a very small child-sized cup and poured some of the lemonade in there. Karkat just snickered quietly and turned and left the kitchen. It was time to find Dave or generally anyone else to piss off. He started to wander through the hallways, pretty soon he was in a dimmer offshoot hallway, and had no idea where he was. His search for Dave was given up, and he just sipped at his glass of drank as he slowly walked down the hallway.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>It turned out that Dave found him instead, and Karkat felt a hand placed on his shoulder suddenly. Quite obviously, he screamed. Very loudly. But only for a second, and then he spun around, glass still in hand. Luckily he didn’t spill any. Dave just kind of stared at him like the smug human didn’t do shit. Karkat growled and used his free hand to lightly smack the others’ arm, “NEVER fucking do that again I will ACTUALLY rip out your throat.” He scowled at the human, taking another sip of his drink.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Chill, dude.” Dave laughed a bit and rubbed his arm where he had been smacked, probably rolling his eyes under his shades. For whatever reason, Karkat didn’t feel as infuriated by this motherfucker quite as much as usual, but maybe that was better anyways. It probably wouldn’t be desirable to get kicked out of this party super early just because he ended up punching the daylights out of a smug, sexy motherfucker. Wait. Did he just mentally use the word ‘sexy’ to describe Dave? Gross. He quickly scrubbed that from his think pan.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah, what-fucking ever. Just drink this.” He not-so-gracefully shoved his glass of vile drank toward Dave, who managed to grab it despite Karkat’s violently clumsy movement.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“What the fuck is this?” Dave raised a pale eyebrow over his shades, and stared down at Karkat, whom did not seem very happy about any of this.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Just take a drink before I change my mind about letting you share with me.” Karkat snapped, arms crossing over his chest and scowl slightly deepening. “Unless that’s apparently too gay or whatever.” He said, and watched Dave huff. Now he looked really torn.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s not gay to share a sip or two with the bros.” Dave declared, then unceremoniously took a drink. Karkat found himself staring a little too long at Dave’s lips, but it went unnoticed as Dave just frowned a little. “Eh, I’ve had better.” Damn. Karkat had been hoping for a little more fanfare. Maybe at least a little more of a frown. A ‘oh fuck you karkat vantas for tricking me into drinking this thing that made my mouth taste bad’. To which Karkat would have only one choice: to offer to fix that for him, thus making way for kissing him.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Wait. No. That wasn’t a thing that was gonna happen. Karkat needed to shape up and get this shit out of his head. He blinked and looked away. At the wall. Anything other than Dave. He refused to get any more of those shitty ideas in his mind. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Well, unfortunately I’m certain this is all we’re getting for now.” He said, shrugging. Ew. Why did he shrug? That probably looked terrible. He never looked good when he shrugged. He needed to stop doing that. “And you better not fucking drink it all.” He added, arms crossing over his chest as he rolled his eyes. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Don’t give me ideas.” Dave said, taking a few more sips from the glass. “So have you caused any trouble yet? Try not to break anything. You might accidentally get yourself shot.” He said, and Karkat kind of wondered what he meant. He doubted Jade would shoot him for accidentally breaking things.... Right? She wouldn’t shoot him, right? Oh fuck. He added that to the list of ways he could probably die within the next few hours.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh, you know. I stole that,” He gestured to the glass in Dave’s hand, “and caused a </span>
  <em>
    <span>lot</span>
  </em>
  <span> of havoc. Business as usual. Pretty sure I saw a ghost.” He added, giving a tiny smirk. “Maybe we should go get more.” He suggested. “Or actually find others. Bother them a little.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Dave shrugged, taking another sip. “Maybe. You know this isn’t really a serious party, there’s not a requirement to socialize constantly.” He said in a reminding tone. Karkat huffed. Of course it wasn’t a requirement. Everyone was giving him permission to just hide away. He wanted to take that chance, go hide and be not anxious, but then again he wanted to stay around them. Being alone was also a source of anxiety. He’d rather be anxious around at least one person rather than risk being murdered or whatever usually happened in spooky large houses in the woods. Damn he could wander out into the woods. That sounded like a good idea.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Adding to that, he could run </span>
  <em>
    <span>naked</span>
  </em>
  <span> in the woods.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Okay, maybe not that.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>But he could run around in the woods… okay that also wasn’t a very good idea. But he </span>
  <em>
    <span>could</span>
  </em>
  <span> do it, and that was what mattered.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah yeah, I know. I could hide in the closet and never come out for the rest of this party and no one would blame me, something along those lines.” He said, waving a hand in the air without really gesturing with a purpose. “I could. I really could. But should I? Probably not. Maybe I should, but I don’t want to anyhow.” He said, then crossed his arms.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Alright, so let’s go find Jake.” Dave held out his hand. Wait. Karkat’s brain short circuited. Why was Dave offering his hand? Is this sex? Wait no. Karkat internally rolled his eyes. Of course Dave didn’t mean anything by this. Karkat took his hand, because the no homo was obviously implied. He was having trouble thinking correctly, so maybe after this little escapade he should go lay down. Or just try to relax somewhere. He tried not to think about how he was holding Dave’s hand as they walked down the hallway, straying a little farther from the human so they weren’t close enough to brush shoulders, or do anything to make someone think they were more </span>
  <em>
    <span>involved</span>
  </em>
  <span> with each other than they actually were.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“So what’s up with Jake, really?” Karkat looked over at Dave, the movement of his head almost careening him off balance. “Didn’t I hear from somewhere that he’s uh, foreign? Less so than me, of course.” Their footsteps were quiet but they filtered through the air softly, a calming rhythm. His own were louder than Dave’s, who walked almost silently compared to himself.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“He’s supposedly from an island around Europe, hence the accent. I’m not sure, though. My brother’s seeming pretty into him, though, so. Guess he can’t be too bad?” Dave said, sounding like something else was on his mind. Karkat wondered what he could be worrying about. Karkat honestly understood nothing about human sibling relations, but he could draw some parallels to his own relationship with some of his friends. Hopefully that could apply to the situation at hand. Hopefully. They reached the main part of the house, Karkat having not watched where they were going. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Supposedly? You don’t even fucking know?” Karkat questioned, that information rising to the front of his mind. How could these guys not even know where Jake came from? Maybe the guy was just really secretive? A little hard to trust someone like that. The response to his query was a simple shrug, which he would have gotten entirely furious over if he didn’t spot Dirk and Jake talking quietly to each other. Dirk of course was leaned against the wall of the living room, Jake standing in front of him with hands in his pockets.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He could feel a change in Dave’s mood without even looking at him, and pulled his hand away. Not willing to be seen like that quite yet. Upon spotting Dave, Dirk quickly pushed away from the wall and dismissed himself. Karkat was very confused. Why did Dirk have the urge to escape so quickly? Nonetheless, Karkat didn’t have the time to go after Dirk, because Jake was addressing him and Dave now.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Hello there, how are you two doing today?” The accident threw Karkat off. He wasn’t used to actually speaking to people with such accents. Sure he watched some people on youtube or otherwise with accents, but it was jarring actually experiencing it. Fuck, he had to respond didn’t he? That was usually a requirement for conversations.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Absolutely fucking horrible, how are you?” Nailed it. Karkat looked up at Jake and shoved his hands into his pockets. Good thing he actually had pockets. Sometimes jeans like these did not have pockets but he was blessed this time. But the ones that didn’t have pockets were always the ones that made his ass look the best. The price he had to pay for beauty. Jake just kind of laughed a tiny bit at his response, god this guy was hot. Wait what? Karkat would facepalm but that would make him look more weird.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And he wasn’t weird.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I don’t think I met you, chap. You’re a new face ‘round here.” Jake held out his hand as if to shake. Karkat would like to say he would have shook his hand if the situation was different, but he still probably wouldn’t have. Instead, the space was filled with an awkward silence and Jake casually retracted his hand. “Ah, sorry bud, not up to touching.” He just smiled. Karkat was surprised he didn’t get offended or anything. Karkat definitely would have gotten offended. Then again, he got offended about basically everything. Or pretended to get offended, at least. Anyways.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah, whatever. You come to visit often, or is this a new thing?” Karkat had to ask, then stole his drink back from Dave to take a sip. Important sip. Jake’s expression never changed from cheery and friendly. Did this guy ever experience negative emotions? It didn’t seem so.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“This is actually the first time I’ve come round! I am very happy to finally be able to meet my friends in the flesh!” Jake said, and Karkat still didn’t understand any more. “Well, I’ve really just mostly talked to Jade, Jane, and Roxy!” He added, as if that was the most important part of what he was saying.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Ah, cool.” Karkat took another drink. More like three. The glass was almost empty now. He would need to get more, even though his vision was kind of swimming, and he thought he could actually feel the Earth’s rotation for once, even if that was entirely unreasonable to think. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“So how did you meet these fellas?” Jake asked, and Karkat debated on what to say. Since he was pretty sure everyone knew by now that he had gotten into a fake hookup with Dirk, he should logically say that. But he didn’t want to say that. It sounded so much worse when it was put that way. He would probably have to lie. And then tell Jake the truth later. Just like with everyone else.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I uh. Was dating Dirk for a while.” Karkat glanced at Dave, giving him a warning glance. Telling him not to say anything about that. Dave didn’t have anything to say, to his relief. “But yeah, not together anymore. He’s hot but toooootally out of my league.” He said, trying to be convincing enough.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>His head was becoming muddy. He could hardly think right. It was as if all a sudden the lights seemed a little brighter, and he was zoning out of what Jake said. He noted after a few minutes that suddenly, Jake was looking at him expectantly. “Um, what?” So fucking dumb. He was so dumb.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Really? You were with Dirk? I don’t think I heard about that.” Jake said, his expression full of curiosity. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh, well. It didn’t go on for very long.” Karkat said. He looked over at Dave, who he couldn’t read the expression of. Damn it. Despite his absolute fury at that smug-ass coolkid, he couldn’t help his gaze lingering on the hair, the face, wondering what the fuck that guy was thinking. Well, for starters, Karkat could somewhat tell that the guy was also feeling a bit more affected by the drink they’d shared. “Anyways, do you know Dirk very well too?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I recently started talking to the ol’ chap recently, and I think we’ve really been hitting it off, so to speak!” Jake said, looking thrilled at the concept of gaining new friends. If only Karkat could be as blessed with friend making. No, he had to be blackmailed into the family after spilling soup on some hot coolkid with anime shades. Why was he mentally using the word ‘coolkid’ so much. God fucking dammit.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“That’s great.” Karkat said, about to continue the lovely conversation before Dave’s hand rested on his shoulder. “What?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Hey, can I talk to you?” Dave asked, and Karkat nodded. He wondered what he needed to talk about in private. Fuck. Karkat let himself be slowly led toward one of the quieter hallways, and eventually toward the closet. Oh shit? Closet time. Karkat was the first one to duck into the closet and leaned back against the wall in the space where there weren't coats and miscellaneous other items. Dave came in and closed the door, silence falling between them for a short time. Karkat couldn’t see very well, but he could rather feel the proximity between him and Dave. He was more aware, as well, when Dave stepped closer, maybe a foot between them at most. Karkat could feel his pulse speed up, and their breaths mingling in the air…</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“So are you gonna tell me why you dragged me in here or are we just gonna stare into each other’s eyes lovingly like only the best of bros do?” Karkat said, not wanting to get this to a point where it would be more awkward than it needed to be. It was so dark that he couldn’t see very much, but he could see the general outline of Dave’s shape, and had to stop himself from reaching out to make sure he wasn’t a ghost or something.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Dave seemed to find his question funny, as evidence with a tiny chuckle that followed. Almost just as fast, his mood seemed to dip. “I’m worried. About Dirk.” He said slowly, as if unsure whether to actually tell this to Karkat.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Why the fuck are you worried about him? He seems to be having a decent time.” Karkat had noticed a tiny bit off, but he had just put it up to his general weird suspicion about others.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Dave was silent for a moment. “Okay, more like I’m concerned about him being around Jake.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Karkat didn’t understand where he was getting at. “Why? I thought you guys were all buddy-buddy. Shouldn’t you be absolutely ecstatic that your friends are getting along with everyone?” He was unable to keep a tiny bit of sarcasm out of his voice. He was a little shocked when Dave’s hand moved to place on the wall next to Karkat’s head, closing the distance between them ever so slightly. He could see Dave a little better now, especially the fact the human had apparently removed his shades. Oh fuck. Karkat couldn’t distinguish colors enough to determine the color of Dave’s eyes, but just the idea of seeing them was enough to make him feel the slightest bit blessed.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I… I dunno. I’m kinda in charge of keeping Dirk outta shit, it’s kinda my job. I don’t fuckin know Jake very well.” Dave admitted, and Karkat blinked. Holy shit? This guy has emotions? And feelings? And worries? Well, of course he did. But Karkat up until this point hadn’t seen any proof of that. But god damn he needed to chill out.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“As a wise friend of mine would say, ‘you just need ta motherfuckin chill out’.” Karkat said, slowly reaching out to put his hand on Dave’s shoulder, thumb gently rubbing against the fabric of his shirt. “He’s a fuckin adult dude. You can’t watch out for him forever.” He could see something change in Dave’s expression as a reaction to the touch, and decided to slowly slide his hand toward the human’s neck, until he was gently stroking his jawline. Shit.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I can’t just ‘chill out’ dude. I don’t want Dirk to get hurt.” Dave said, his head ever so slightly leaning into the touch. Karkat could feel warmth spreading across his face, and was just glad that he was concealed by the darkness. The warmth spread to the rest of his body, and he could feel a mix of anxiety and excitement creeping through him.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Sometimes people have to just make shit decisions and get hurt to learn, Strider.” Karkat said. He knew this was.. A little bit insensitive, but he didn’t really have a whole lot else to say. He felt Dave’s hand rest on top of his own, pressing against his face with just a little more pressure. Karkat’s heart practically skipped a beat, being so close to the object of his attention was killing him. They stayed in that position for a while, to the point that Karkat was thinking he should probably move, Dave was probably having second thoughts and thinking he was weird for going along with this… Fuck. He was making a mistake. Karkat started to slowly pull his hand away, but…</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Dave suddenly moved his face closer, and before Karkat realized it, his lips were pressed against Dave’s. He froze for a second before melting into it, hand sliding to cup the back of Dave’s neck. He felt Dave’s tongue swipe over his lip, and opened his mouth to let it in. The warmth of their bodies mingled together, until Dave pulled away, brushing his thumb over the troll’s cheek. Karkat was breathless, and could tell his eyes were wide as fuck while staring at the human, gaze locked. Fuck, was Dave- did that really just happen? After processing what had happened, Karkat felt his heart soaring. Maybe…</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Uh, heh, no homo.” Dave’s face cracked into a bit of a grin, and Karkat’s heart shattered into pieces after plunging to the ground. Of… of course this fucking... this fucking asshole would do this. Karkat took his hands off of Dave and instead chose to place his hands on the human’s chest, then shove him backward. Dave almost actually fell, but Karkat wasn’t sticking around to see that. He was quickly out of the small space, storming down the hallway. He didn’t know anywhere to go. He was certain that wherever he might go that would be inside the building, Dave would find him, and he was NOT willing to deal with that jackass right now. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Karkat’s surroundings blurred past him as he staggered toward the front door. He heard someone trying to talk to him, but he ignored them and stepped outside. There was a thin drizzle of rain coming down but that didn’t bother him. He approached the car that they had arrived in, and got in. He wanted to lock the doors, but chose not to because it wasn’t his fucking car.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He sat in the front, leaning forward with his elbows on his legs and head in his hands. That had been way too much. Why did he even follow Dave into the closet in the first place. That was where everything bad </span>
  <em>
    <span>could</span>
  </em>
  <span> happen so why was he surprised that it </span>
  <em>
    <span>did</span>
  </em>
  <span> happen? His claws pressed lightly on his forehead, absolutely pissed off at both himself and Dave for that travesty of a kiss.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He screwed his eyes shut, and just tried to take deep breaths. He heard a few sounds coming from inside, and even thought he might have heard something from just outside the car, but he wasn’t going to focus on that. Because at the current moment, he was about two steps from completely losing his goddamn shit. He stayed there for a few minutes, not moving from the position he was in. Luckily he was calmed down a tiny bit very soon, but the anger was just replaced with sadness. He didn’t have a lot of time to think about that though, as there was a tapping on the window. Roxy’s face greeted him, though shocked him quite a little. Or rather, more than a little, as he jumped at the tap and ended up glaring at her, knowing he had made at least a small sound of fear.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He opened the door, holding it only slightly open. “What the fuck do you want?” He asked not so nicely. The cold air was noticeable as it wafted in and Roxy’s expression turned to one of concern. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Are you okay?” She asked, frowning a small bit. Karkat didn’t answer, and just looked away, out the windshield. At this, Roxy simply closed the door. Karkat thought initially that she had left, but it turns out she just crossed to the other side of the car and sat in the driver’s seat next to him. “Talk.” She said, squinting at him. Karkat turned his head and stared at her for a few solid moments. No, he couldn’t. She’d blab about it to everyone. Well, if she told him exactly who it was about…</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Unless you can give me pointers on how to get rid of certain feelings for someone, I’m gonna refrain from talking.” Karkat said, but his voice sounded like he was on the verge of tears. He hardly responded as he felt a hand on his shoulder, and lowered his head. “This is gonna fuckin kill me.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Karkle sparkle I know it seems bad but!!! You won’t die. Probaby. I mean you can technically die from heartbreak but I don’t think trolls can have that???? I don’t know shit about trolls but. It’ll be ok.” Roxy was saying, and Karkat didn’t know if it was his own brain distorting her words or their mutual inebriation that was causing it. Then again, he was only processing half of her words. “If you want I can stay with you for a while?” She offered, and Karkat slowly turned his head to look at her. Her expression was patient and kind, which was definitely a relatively new sight for Karkat.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Karkat didn’t really think through his next action very much. He pulled Roxy into a hug, which was pretty awkward and horrible because of their positions in the seats, but it was comforting nonetheless. He had to try and convince himself that it would be okay.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>After a bit of awkwardly hugging, Karkat pulled away, and wrung his hands together. What was he going to do? He didn’t feel well enough to face Dave, but he also didn’t feel like staying in the car all night, or forcing Roxy to. He didn’t even know how he was supposed to feel about Dave in general. No, you know what? Fuck it. He was going to have fun with Roxy, and he was going to act like Dave didn’t fucking exist. He quickly got out of the car, with a lot more vigor than he had in him before. Roxy was stumbling to follow him, and caught up quicker than he thought she would. It didn’t really matter. He stormed inside and was prepared for the rest of his night to either go absolutely terrible, or perfectly fine.</span>
</p>
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